The Runaways
by MyNameIsCAL
Summary: What if Itex never existed?Fate can't be changed. They must meet and change each others lives. Their lives still lead them to each other in this alternate reality as they all still have something to run away from. Alternating POVs FAX and Niggy for once!
1. Chapter 1

**The Runaways – Chapter 1**

By MyNameIsCAL

**Disclaimer: As always, as much as we'd all like to call Fang and Iggy our own, all Maximum Ride characters belong to Mr. James Patterson. **

**The point of view which the story is being told will change from character to character in order to get what's happening to each of them. Since I won't cover all the characters in this first chapter, here's the rundown for how things will play out for each character:**

**Max: In order to get Jeb into the story, we will have him play Max's father, as he really is biologically in the story, but Jeb and Dr. Martinez, better known as Mom, are divorced and Ella will still have her father who died when she was young.**

**Fang: As he suggested in the book, Fang's mother will be a drug addict. His father may drift in and out of the picture, but will most likely be nonexistent. He will be the first to run away from home, leaving his mother to her own mess and finding a way to survive by himself.**

**Gazzy & Angel: The two and only related flock members in the book, Gazzy and Angel decide to run when they overhear their parents selling them from money into some kind of human trafficking ring for drug money. Iggy will be their neighbor and they will influence him to run away with them.**

**Iggy: Ig will still be blind. And he'll still get around quite well. Along with Gazzy and Angel, Iggy is forced into running away with them. He doesn't quite have anything to run from, but Gazzy and Angel do. Through school, Fang also knows Iggy. Iggy plays an important role of joining everyone together. **

**Nudge: While hesitant to run away from her parents, she must as they are arrested by the law. The last thing Nudged wants to do is get thrown into a foster home or be an orphan. She will meet Iggy one day and he will save her.**

* * *

---Max's POV---

"If you need anything, call me."

I got out of Mom's car. "Thanks."

She gave me a small smile. It was the same thing she said to me every time she dropped me off at my dad's house. Well, I didn't call him Dad. To me, he would be Jeb.

"I'm going to the mall tonight," Ella said as I pulled my bag out of the back. "If you need to get away."

"I might tag along," I nodded.

That was Ella, my half sister. Probably my best friend through all the mess Jeb had made. The fact that I was forced to spend every weekend with him didn't seem right to me, especially since he was so involved in his work. Mom insisted it was important that I still had time around Jeb and that it was important for Jeb to still be part of my life. I thought that was a load of bullshit, but until I turned eighteen, this was what I'd be stuck doing every weekend.

I didn't knock or ring the door bell, instead, I unlocked the door with my key and walked right in, straight into my room, and passed Jeb's office. It was a routine. In exactly ten minutes, he would appear in the doorway of my room and ask me what I wanted for dinner. My answer was always pizza and he'd leave forty bucks on the table, money which I used to go out, either with Ella or just by myself.

The thing was Jeb didn't care about me. Sometimes I would sneak back to Mom's house and sleep there. He wouldn't even notice and Ella promised never to tell Mom.

And tonight would be no different.

I grabbed the money Jeb left on the table after he returned to his office and made my way towards the mall on foot.

* * *

---Fang's POV---

Friday night. I hated Friday nights. It meant two whole days of being stuck picking up after my mother. After I was born, my father left because he couldn't give a damn about me. My mom sort of lost it after that and drowned herself in drugs. Sometimes I would come home and find bags or drugs just out in the open, my mother on the couch wasted.

Tonight was one of those nights.

She was passed out already. I grabbed a bunch of the bags and shoved them into my backpack. She couldn't support me and I didn't have time for a job, so I stole drugs from my mother and sold them out to this one rich kid from school. He was generous with the money, so I left some of it for my mom and kept the rest for myself. Right now I was saving up for a car.

"What you got today, Fang?" Josh asked as I walked into his apartment.

Fang. A name I had picked up from the Josh and his friends.

"Some coke and heroin." I threw the bags out on the table.

"Nice, Man." He grinned. "I'd ask where you get it from, but that would be conflict of interest, wouldn't it?"

"Yes it would." And I was glad he thought that because I didn't think stealing from my mother would go over well.

He handed me a wad of cash. "I'm going to a party. You wanna come?"

I shook my head. "I got some stuff to do."

"Suit yourself." Josh stuffed the drugs into his own bag. "I'll see you around."

My next stop: The mall.

* * *

---Max's POV---

The mall was filled with people. I found Ella waiting for me at the food court, alone.

"I thought you were coming with other people," I said, approaching her.

She shrugged. "They're at a party."

"Why didn't you go?" Ella was too nice to me.

"Well I wasn't going to let you walk around here alone and there are always drugs at those parties. I can't stand it," she muttered. "Josh and his idiot friends. They're only there to dish out the drugs, get money, and get girls. It's disgusting."

"Don't let me stop you from doing other things on Friday nights," I said anyway.

She shrugged. "I'd rather be here."

We continued to walk around the mall, stopping to eat at the burger joint. There was a guy sitting at the table behind Ella. He was dressed in all black and eating by himself. I recognized him from school and his name escaped me now, but he always looked lonely.

"What are you looking at?" Ella questioned.

The guy noticed I was staring at him and he gave me a half smile.

"Nothing," I muttered, returning a smile.

Ella glanced over her shoulder but he had already disappeared.

* * *

---Fang's POV---

Max, for as long as I had been selling my mother's drugs every Friday night, was at the mall every Friday night. Call me a stalker, but I spent almost every Friday night at the mall too. She went to my school, although most of the time I cut class because my mom needed looking after. How I kept my grades up was a mystery to me. If I remembered correctly, Max was in most of my classes.

Tonight was the first night she had noticed me though. There was something about her that I couldn't quite put my finger on, but it drew me towards her. Alright, maybe I sort of was a stalker.

The mall closed around ten. I watched Max and her sister say goodbye before I headed back towards the place I was supposed to call home.

"Have you seen my stuff?" My mother shook me by the shoulders as soon as I walked through the door.

"What stuff?" It was the same old routine every Friday night.

She sighed, shaking her head. "I'll be back later. Do you have any money?"

I pulled out two twenty dollar bills from my pocket and handed them to her. She ran out the door, not even closing it or saying goodbye.

* * *

---Max's POV---

Jeb was still in his office when I returned. He didn't even look up as I walked pass the door. After a shower, I climbed into bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking how things always felt worse when I was here. At Mom's house, I felt like I had nothing to worry about. But here, it was like a prison.

At midnight, Jeb would walk up his creaky stairs and head to his room. By six in the morning, he was gone to work. Jeb was a scientist. He worked for the government. Other than that, I didn't know much about what he did and I liked it that way.

Only two more days until I was back where my real home was.

* * *

**Right, so another new fanfiction. I hope you enjoyed that first bit here. Next chapter will be coming soon. As always, thank you for reading and reviews would be appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Runaways – Chapter 2**

By MyNameIsCAL

---Fang's POV---

"Fang!"

Someone grabbed me by the arm as I walked down the hallway. I shook them loose. "Jesus, Iggy, how the hell did you know it was me?"

"Because you're the only one that smells like alcohol and drugs," Iggy muttered under his breath.

"You know I only deal that shit," I growled, pushing Iggy against his locker. "You know I can't stand the way my mother lives, the way her stench rubs off on me."

Iggy blindly threw a punch, but it missed me and I pinned him back again. Poor guy. He lost his sight in some freak accident. Not that he ever talked about it. I still didn't know the story.

"Alright, chill, I'm sorry," he sighed. "I wasn't trying to accuse you or anything."

I let go of him. "So what did you want?"

"My mom won't be able to pick me up from school. I need someone to see me home so I don't get hit by a car," Iggy answered.

"Fine." But it was better than going home to my mother. Besides, Iggy was the closest thing to a best friend I had.

He frowned. "Thanks."

* * *

---Iggy's POV---

As much as Fang sounded like he resented doing things for me, he always said yes. It was more of pity though because he couldn't help his mom and that compelled him to try to find someone else he could help. He's told me stuff that I'm pretty sure no one else knew. We've had our share of secrets. In fact Fang wasn't as scary and intimidating as everyone sized him up to be.

"So, how was your weekend?" But I already knew the answer to that.

"The usual cleaning up after my mother," he grumbled. "She's going to get herself killed one day."

"Maybe you should turn her in," I suggested.

"Are you fucking crazy?!" Fang exclaimed. "I don't need to deal with the cops. It's one step closer to getting busted for selling."

I shook my head. As much as he helped me, I could never help him.

"I almost got enough money for a car," he said, more calm now. "And once I get my car I'm going to leave home."

"Where are you going to go?"

"I'll be around," Fang paused for a moment. "Think about it this way: If I get a car, you'll never have to walk home like this."

He was trying to pass this off as nothing, but I knew that he was serious about everything he had just said. And it didn't surprise me either.

* * *

---Gazzy's POV---

Angel and I sat outside waiting for Iggy. He "watched" us after school most days since our parents both worked. Today, he was walking home with his friend. The kid that became the one thing our parents didn't like about Iggy. Iggy had promised to keep him away when he was supervising us. I didn't like his friend either. People told me he was trouble.

I think Iggy pitied him. His name was Nick, I think, but everyone called him Fang. Iggy never told me why.

As Iggy headed towards our house, Nick continued to walk, past our house, and down the street towards town. I wondered where he was going.

"Why do you hang out with that creep?" I asked Iggy.

He replied, "Why do I hang out with kids half my age every day?"

It was true. He could be doing other things.

"Did you do your homework?" he asked after a while.

"Of course we did," Angel told him. "We came home and hour before you got here."

"Sorry I was late," he sighed, sitting down between Angel and me. "My mom couldn't pick me up today."

"And so you asked the creep to escort you?" I inquired.

"He's not a creep, Gazzy." Iggy sounded annoyed. "He's just got a lot of things going on and needs a friend."

That was the end of our conversation about Nick because Angel began to go on about her day. Not that either of us cared, but we figured we better listen since there was nothing else to talk about.

* * *

---Angel's POV---

As every night goes in our house, Iggy made us dinner. Which we always thought was strange since he couldn't see. Well, he relied on us to cut things up. He claimed he just remembered all the things his mom told him about cooking.

"Alright, you got the onions?" he questioned, turning on the stove.

"Yeah," Gazzy pushed the bowl of chopped onions towards Iggy. "What are you making?"

"Pasta." Iggy poured the onions in. Then he turned to me. "Here, why don't you put the pasta in?"

I took the box from the counter and opened it, on my tiptoes to pour it into the pot. Iggy stirred, yawning. He was the older brother I wish I had. Gazzy was soooooo obnoxious. I mean, the only reason we called him Gazzy was because no matter what, he could pass gas on command. Iggy dubbed him the Gasman. Then I shortened it. Sometimes I wished Iggy would live with us. Iggy's food was amazing. Much better than my Mom's cooking. But we didn't tell her that.

After dinner, we had an hour of TV time. Well, it was supposed to be an hour, but Iggy didn't care as long as we were in bed before our parents walked through the door. Tonight, we managed to stay up until midnight until the garage door started to open. Gazzy and I rushed up the stairs, telling Iggy goodbye.

"Night," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

---Iggy's POV---

Gazzy and Angel were good kids. They're parents were generous too. I got ten dollars for every hour I spent watching Gazzy and Nudge. Tonight, I got about eighty bucks. What I really wanted to do with all my money was maybe save up to fix my eyes one day or go to a good college.

"Sorry we were late," Gazzy's Mom says, handing me money. "We got caught in traffic."

I shrugged, indifferently. "It's alright. I only live next door."

She opened the door for me. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see ya."

But I didn't like Gazzy and Angel's parents. There was something very off about them. As generous as they were. The way their parents talked to me. I couldn't place my finger on it. In fact, Gazzy and Nudge didn't really know what their parents did for a living. It made me wonder.

Or maybe I just had an overactive imagination.

* * *

**New chapter soon! We'll see Nudge next. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Runaways – Chapter 3**

By MyNameIsCAL

**Correction: Last chapter I accidently kept saying "Gazzy and Nudge" when I really meant Gazzy and Angel. I went back and corrected it, but in case you were confused, I just wanted to clear that up. **

**Just to be safe, I'm also changing the rating to M because of things that go on in this chapter with Fang. And I am warning you, things could be a little bit graphic as a certain someone attacks and, to be blunt, molests Fang. Thanks you for your understanding.**

---Nudge's POV---

My parents were never the ones to ever come to my school performances or take me places. They worked all day and came home late at night, only to leave a few hours later. Sometimes I would come home and my dad or mom would be home, but they were working, hard working as I thought at the time. We lived in a trailer park, just on the outskirts of town. When I did see my parents, a rare event during the day time, they kept saying they almost had enough money to get us a house. But they had been saying that since two years ago and I was losing faith.

As soon as I was young enough to go to school, they started to disappear from my life. Now that I was old enough to look after myself, they wouldn't even come home sometimes.

Today was like every other. I walked home from school, a place where my friends were few. I didn't fit in. To them, I was trailer trash. I amounted to nothing but the girl that got picked on or pitied. Like always, I stopped at the store on the way home to pick up dinner for later. There was a guy, high schooler, dressed in all black, buying all the microwave dinners they had left. The ones I was going to get for dinner tonight.

He looked down at me, maybe a foot and a half or two taller than me. I started to back away.

"I'm sorry, did you want some of these," he said, handing me three boxes from the top of his pile.

And then he was gone, with his four other boxes. He creeped me out, but at least I had gotten my dinner.

A few hours later, I sat at home, trying to get signal as I sat at the small table, eating my dinner and finishing up my homework. All that came up was the news and I settled for it, seeing that I should feel lucky that I got any signal at all even though I ended up watching the news every day.

Drugs had been in the news lately. Smugglers from Mexico were bringing them in and distributing them. Even in the local news, drug busts seemed to be happening every day. It made me wonder about the people I passed on the streets.

* * *

---Fang's POV---

It was the middle of the week now. Friday would come and then everything would start all over again. Today, I returned home to find my mom home for once. There were bags of powder scattered all over the table. She was standing in the kitchen, smoking, a bottle of vodka newly opened on the table.

"Hey!" Someone shouted from her bedroom. "Get in here!"

That voice. It was so familiar.

My mom picked up the bottle, her words slurring. "I'll be there in a sec!"

And a man came stumbling out of the room, shirtless and probably more wasted than my mother.

"Hello, Nick," the man grinned.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I growled.

"Miss me?" He took a step towards me, almost falling forward.

"Get the fuck out of here." I wasn't thinking when I threw a punch at him.

And he tackled me to the floor, beating me senseless in a drug induced rage. The last time I saw my dad, he had left my mom beaten and crying, bloodied and bruised. I guess it was my turn to take the heat.

* * *

---Nudge's POV---

I wake up early to walk to school. At least one of my parents had been home last night. The garbage had been taken out, money for me had been restocked in the drawer, and yesterday's paper lay on the table. But whoever was here before, whether it was mom or dad, I would never know.

Thursday was always that day before Friday. I hated Thursdays. Maybe even more than I hated Wednesdays. I didn't feel like going to school. The walk was too far, but the bus came too early for my liking anyway. I shouldn't complain, really. Sometimes I wished I could fly so I could wake up five minutes before school started.

On the weekends, I cleaned up around and in the trailer. If I was lucky, one of my parents would come home this weekend. The cleaning up was my being hopefully, but usually it didn't work. I could hope for weeks and only see them leaving or coming in when I had to go to school. Other weekends I would mope around or walk places.

I loved my parents though. They always made sure I had money to have something to eat. If I ever needed to call them, they would answer right away. They just weren't around.

* * *

---Fang's POV---

I came to in my room. Nothing seemed to be touched. Maybe my father had just thrown me in here, not that he deserved to be called my father.

And then the door burst open, Daddy dearest standing there. "You're one little nasty son of a bitch."

I tried to roll of the bed, but he grabbed me, injecting me with something. And then I couldn't move anymore. He threw me back on the bed. I could hear him unlatch his belt buckle. Pain only came next as he began to hit me. I blacked out from the screaming sometime between being hit endlessly and my father pulling off my pants…

* * *

**Right, I hope that didn't bother any of you too much. And I'm really sorry if it did. But I wanted to put a bit in there with Fang's father and show how abusive he was. In the next chapter, we'll just see Fang in the aftermath of what happened to him. Well, tell me what you think…I don't want to scare you away from reading it. I was just trying to write something powerful. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**The Runaways – Chapter 4**

By MyNameIsCAL

*****Just a note that this chapter is a bit longer so I can just fit this whole thing with Max and Fang into one rather than breaking it up. Besides, it's better this way. You won't have to wait multiple chapters to see all this play out and I want to keep it down to each chapter only having two or three different character's POVs.*****

---Fang's POV---

According to my clock, I've lost an entire day. I felt numb. The events of the other day were blurred, or maybe I just didn't want to remember them. My clothes were torn and ripped and there was blood on the sheets. And then everything that happened hit me and I fell back onto the bed, feeling weak.

But my so called father was still here. I could hear him talking to my mom through the wall. This was my chance to escape. It was time I run away from this mess.

My hands shook as I tried to dress myself, just pulling new clothes over the damaged ones. I make a mad grab, shoving everything into my backpack and a duffle bag. All I've got was CD's, my laptop, my school crap, and my guitar. I took that in its case and opened my door slowly and stuffed some clothes into the duffle. It was a straight line from here to the front door. Freedom only ten feet away from me.

I retrieved my jacket and shoved whatever drugs would fit into my bag. It was Friday night and I wasn't going to miss out on selling. I needed to sell and get a place to stay, away from this hell hole that was supposed to be home. But I could barely walk. Numbness has turned to pain. But I pushed forward because there's nothing else I could do. In a muddled mess, I snatched my dad's car keys, threw my crap into the back, and headed to whatever place I think of first: Josh's place.

* * *

---Max's POV---

It was Friday night again except I wouldn't have Ella to accompany me to the mall. Jeb had called saying he was caught up with things at his work. I guess he hadn't been home because he insisted that I didn't come this weekend. That was fine with me. Mom dropped me off at the mall. I had convinced Ella to go to one of her friend's parties tonight.

"Call me if you need anything," Mom said.

"I know." She's said that to me a thousand times.

"Someday I'm gonna get you and Ella a car to share," Mom smiled. "I've been thinking about it."

"Really?"

She nodded. "You two are old enough and responsible enough. Besides, what good is a license without a car?"

I smiled. This was why I loved my mom.

* * *

---Fang's POV---

I told Josh that my dad beat me up, but I didn't tell him anything more than that. No questions asked, he gave me the cash in exchange for the drugs and I stumbled back out to the car.

"Fang, you shouldn't be driving." Josh followed me out. That was the first time he has ever shown he cared.

"You shouldn't be dealing," I muttered and sped off towards the mall.

I guess at the time I hadn't been thinking. The right thing to do would have been to head to a hospital or go to the police, but I guess I had felt weak for letting my father do what he did to me. I was in denial and the best way to forget was to go on in routine.

Stumbling, I got out of the car and limped towards the mall and found a bench to sit on inside. People gave me funny looks, but none of them stopped to stare for too long. I guess I gave off that aura that you should stay away from me.

* * *

---Max's POV---

I didn't really know why I came to the mall every Friday night. Honestly, all the people from school that I didn't like, they were here. Although Ella claimed I had all the friends.

It was only five o'clock. I wasn't exactly hungry yet, so I made my way towards the record store. And then I spotted him on the bench, the guy that had smiled at me when I was eating dinner with Ella last week. He looked like he was asleep, but as I took a few steps closer, he looked like he was in pain. I tried to recall his name now, it started with an N. Nick? Maybe.

"Hey, are you ok?" I approached him cautiously. He hung out with the drug crowd at school. Josh and his crew of the most diverse students in school. The only thing they all had in common was drugs.

Nick looked up at me. "Hm? I'm fine."

He was holding his arm. I think there was blood on his face, maybe some on his shirt. It was hard to tell since he was wearing black. But what I could tell was that he wasn't fine. He was far beyond fine.

"I'm fine," he repeated with a growl.

"Let me help you." Those words slipped from my mouth. I felt compelled to for some reason. "I can bring you to the hospital."

He tried to stand, but slid back on the bench after a weak struggle. "No, anywhere but the hospital."

Reasoning with him was hopeless. He was content with staying here.

"My mom is a doctor," I said. Well, an animal doctor, but she probably knew enough to help him. I remembered Ella broke her arm once and it was Sunday so she took Ella to her office instead to take x-rays instead of waiting in the ER.

"Is she?" Nick sucked in a deep breath.

"At least let her make sure you're ok," I insisted. "What are you hiding from?"

He stood, this time a little more steady than his last attempt. "My father. Guess you could say I'm running away from home. Can you drive?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"We'll take my car?" It was like he knew I didn't drive here.

"Alright. Do you need help?"

"No."

But by the time we got to his car, he was leaning on me like a crutch. I didn't know what the hell happened to him, but if he had been in that mall any longer, he wouldn't have been leaving consciously. Once I helped him into the passenger's seat, he passed out.

* * *

---Fang's POV---

I woke up on a bed. At first, I panicked, but sitting up quickly only proved to cause me excruciating pain. Max appeared at the side of the bed, holding a cloth.

"Don't move," she said, wiping my face. "My mom says you might have some broken bones. But we won't be able to check until tomorrow."

I looked around the room. My two bags and guitar case sat in the corner of the room.

"Are you hungry?" she questioned in my silence.

"Yeah," I managed to say.

"I ordered some pizza," she told me. "So can I ask you something, Nick?"

"Call me Fang," I muttered, and then more clearly, "And ask away."

She looked surprised. "Alright, _Fang_. Why are you hiding from your father?"

Memories came rushing back. I didn't want to remember. When I opened my eyes, Max looked concerned. I cleared my throat. "He's the one that did this to me."

Max finished wiping the cuts on my face. She smoothed out my hair, unsure of what to say. "I'm sorry..."

Before I could say anything back, the doorbell rang and Max went to go get it. I wasn't expecting Max and her mother to be that welcoming to a person they barely knew. Especially to the guy who hung out with the wrong crowd. When she came back, she held a box of pizza, setting it on the top of the dresser.

"Thanks," I said as she handed me a slice with a paper plate.

She got her own. "Of course."

"You really shouldn't be doing this for me," I said after a while.

She only shrugged. "Would you believe me if I told you I felt like I'm supposed to help you? That something's telling me there's a reason for this?"

"Sure, I'd believe you," I said.

"Well, then I have to do this," she replied.

And I believed her, I really did. Because like I had said before, something drew me towards her too.

* * *

---Max's POV---

Fang might have been one of the drug groupies, but he certainly wasn't an addict himself. His car reeked of alcohol and cigarettes, but I decided that for a guy that had been beaten up by his father, he was sober. Yet I felt like he was holding back something. It couldn't be this simple, his father beating him up. When Mom had examined him when he was passed out, there were cuts across his chest. The bruises that had begun to show looked like someone had been throwing punches at him for hours, throwing him through walls or something.

I waited with Mom for him to finish showering. He had insisted instead of resting.

"I don't think he has anywhere to go," Mom said quietly, sipping her coffee. "And you say he's troubled?"

I shook my head. "No, I really don't know. He just hangs out with the wrong crowd at school. I mean, he scares people, but now, he doesn't seem all that bad."

Mom looked like she was contemplating something. "Tell him if he needs a place to say, our door is always open. Although judging his condition now, I don't think he'll be going anywhere anytime soon."

We sat without saying anything else. The same thing that was going through Mom's head was going through mine. It was five years ago, and now that I thought about it, those five years had gone by too fast, but I used to have a brother. Back when Jeb and Mom were still married, Ari was the youngest and the most loving and beautiful boy in the world. Ella and I adored him, but Jeb was hard on him, being the only boy in the family.

One night, Ari got it into his head that he was going to run away without telling any of us, run away from Jeb who had just yelled at him for accidentally breaking one of Jeb's expensive wine bottles when running around the house. He had grabbed Ari by the collar and spanked him to the extent where Ella and I were pleading for Jeb to stop. Mom hadn't been home at the time, and maybe if she had, things would turn out better.

So Ari ran, but he only made it to the road where he got hit by a truck. It was horrifying. Mom didn't even know what happened until she came home to the sirens. It wasn't long after that she divorced Jeb.

I guess Fang reminded us of Ari. We couldn't save Ari, but maybe we could save Fang.

* * *

**So that's what happened to Ari. The next chapter will probably be Fang and Max's POV again, perhaps Iggy. Then I'll return to the other characters and work on their troubles. Thanks for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

**The Runaways – Chapter 5**

By MyNameIsCAL

*****So I guess you could say this is like Part 2 of the beginning of Max and Fang!*****

---Fang's POV---

Dr. M, Max's mom, and her sister, Ella, were both very open to having me there. I thought I might scare Ella. Everyone knew I didn't hang out with the nicest crowd at school. Max must have overlooked that.

Right now, I was in Dr. M's office. I didn't know she was an animal doctor, but it didn't matter to me. She was offering to help me and I wasn't going to complain. Anywhere was better than home. If I could even call that home.

"Nothing is broken," Dr. M said walking into her office with the x-rays. "But there's quite a bit of muscle damage around your knee. I'm quite sure you tore your ACL. Which is why your knee is swollen and you're in a tremendous amount of pain."

"So, what can we do about it?" I asked.

"For now? I guess we can brace it, bandage it up," she replied. "But eventually you would need to see a doctor, Fang. A real doctor."

"Alright, thanks, Dr. M."

Max came through the door, holding bandages. "He can use my old crutches from when I twisted my ankle and doesn't Ella have an old knee brace from when she got hurt from soccer?"

Dr. M nodded. "We can bandage it at home. I think he needs to put ice on it first."

Max held out her hand to help me out of the chair. I got up, reluctantly accepting her help. She slung my arm over her shoulder and she helped me back to the car.

It didn't take long to get back to their house. Max helped me inside and sat me on the bed.

"Thanks," I mumbled.

"I'll get you ice, okay?"

"Alright, thank you."

I lay back in the bed, wincing as I moved my leg onto the pillow to elevate it. Max returned with a bag of ice and gently pressed it against my knee. She sat on the edge of the bed, holding it there.

"Fang, if you need a place to stay, my mom says you can stay here as long as you want," Max said.

"I…I can't stay here."

She gave me a sad look, like she knew that I needed a place to stay, like she knew I was hiding something. "It's going to be a long time before you can walk properly again, especially without medical treatment."

"I'll be fine." But I even I knew I was lying to myself.

"Stay, Fang." She's almost begging me now. "At least until you have somewhere else safe to go."

Her eyes met mine. She sincerely wanted to help me. It didn't feel right to say no either, so I agreed.

* * *

---Max's POV---

Ella and I were making lunch when we heard a cell phone go off.

"Is that yours?" she asked.

I shook my head, but I knew where it was coming from. Leaving Ella to make the last of the sandwiches, I headed to Fang's room.

"I think that's my phone," he said, adjusting the ice on his knee. "Can you get it, please? It should be in my bag."

After searching through what seemed like at least fifty CDs, I found his phone at the bottom. I handed it to him and he stared at it for a moment before silencing it.

"Sorry," Fang mumbled.

"Why do you have all those CDs?" I asked, closing his bag.

"Because all I ever had were those CDs and my guitar," he told me.

"You can play?" I've always wanted to know how to play the guitar.

The corners of his mouth seem to curve upward, just slightly. "I'm alright at it. I'll play for you sometime."

* * *

---Iggy's POV---

The fact that Fang wasn't answering his phone bothered me. I needed someone to bring me to the mall since my parents were at work. Usually I could count on him to escort me places. It was unlike him to ignore my calls. Something must have been up over at his place.

The weekends were boring for me. If I ever wanted company, then Fang was my only choice unless Gazzy and Angel needed babysitting. Most of the time I spent my weekends alone, listening to music, daydreaming about being able to see again. Sometimes I would cook, but I never had anyone to share my food with. No one ever wanted hang out with the blind kid.

Today would be just like any other weekend I guess. So much for going to the mall to get some new music. I really hoped Fang didn't get himself into any trouble. He spent so much time around drugs, promising he would never try them, only selling them, but I knew someday he would probably crack. To think he could be anywhere now, stumbling around wasted.

I wouldn't be able to help him either.

* * *

---Fang's POV---

The ice seemed to keep the swelling down. Dr. M said we would wait until tomorrow to wrap it and brace it. Max and I spent a whole lot of the day talking, mostly about nothing important. We were both dodging answering questions about our families. I felt like I could trust her though. Maybe I'd tell her what happened.

Iggy was calling me for the third time now. Max was no longer in the room, so I answered it.

"Jesus Christ, Fang where the FUCK have you been!?" Iggy growled at the other end of the line.

"Ig, my dad fucked me up," I told him. "He beat me and…He…I'm at Max's house."

"Max's house?" Iggy questioned. I didn't have the guts to tell him what really happened.

"Yeah, it was pretty bad. It's a long story," I said. "I tore something in my knee. I can't walk."

Iggy swore again. He must have needed me for something before, but more sympathetically, he answered, "Jeez, I'm sorry to bother you man. If you need anything, give me a ring."

"Okay, thanks," I replied, thankful he wasn't going to ask me anything else.

There was a click and then the line was dead. I flipped my phone closed, placed it on the bedside table, and cried myself to sleep that night.

* * *

**It's either going to be Nudge or Gazzy and Angel's POVs in the next chapter. Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**The Runaways – Chapter 6**

By MyNameIsCAL

---Nudge's POV---

My parents' car was parked in front of the trailer when I came home on Wednesday. At first I was excited, but then I realized I had missed the two cop cars parked next to it. Something was up. I approached the trailer slowly, my microwave dinners in hand.

"Where is your daughter?" a man questioned.

"I don't know." That was my mom.

"You have the right to remain silent," I heard another deep, raspy voice growl. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law…"

I started to back away. The trailer door burst open and two cops were pushing my mom and dad out. I hid behind the garbage cans and caught my dad's eye. He mouthed the word _run_ to me and that's exactly what I did after they were driven away. I ran like hell all the way into town. If my parents were being arrested, I was going to get pushed around by child services. That's the last thing I wanted. I had lived on my own for the past five years practically and that wasn't going to change just because they wouldn't be around.

But what were my parents involved in?

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I ran into someone. We both fell to the ground. I looked around. I was in front of the high school.

"Are you okay?" The guy asked, sitting up right away.

"I'm so sorry," I said, almost in a panic.

His eyes seemed unfocused. Maybe there was something wrong with him.

"It's quite alright," he said, standing up. He must have been in high school, or maybe a college student.

"Are you ok?" I asked him.

"Why, yes, I'm perfectly fine," he assured me. "Did you drop something?"

He bent down, his hand sliding across the pavement until he grasped one of my boxes.

"Are you sure you're alright?" He was having trouble just getting that box. Maybe I had hit him harder than I thought.

"No, I can't see," he said, and then to clarify things up, he added, "I'm blind."

Now I felt incredibly bad, knocking over some poor blind guy.

"I'm really sorry," I told him again, taking my box of food from him.

He shrugged. "Well, usually I'm the one running into people. I'm Iggy, by the way."

"I'm Nudge."

"So, you running from something?" he asked. "People running that fast are either running from something or racing someone, but I'm guessing it's the first choice because I don't hear anyone else running."

I gulped. "No, I'm just running to run, really."

He frowned. "Well I know this guy. Alright, well he's actually probably my best friend, but he thinks he can run from his problems, and maybe he can, but most problems you can't run from. So if you ever need help, give me a call, alright? You have a pen?"

I pulled one out of my backpack and scrawled his number on my hand. In a normal circumstance, I would have got up and kept running, but it was like he knew something was going on, like he could see through me with his sightless eyes.

"I have to go," I said after a few seconds of standing there in silence. Before he could say anything else, I started to run again.

* * *

---Iggy's POV---

I got this feeling that things were going to start falling apart around me. Ever since Fang had called me saying his dad had returned and beaten the crap out of him. Gazzy and Angel were also constantly arguing about their parents. The two of them, or at least I thought, were nuts, probably making up stories about their mom and dad. And then that girl, Nudge, had just run into me. I could sense that she was in trouble, the way she spoke, the way she shifted her weight. If only I could help any of them.

"Hey, you're Iggy, right?"

"Yes, and you are?" My thoughts were being interrupted.

"I'm Max," they answered.

Oh, right, I was supposed to go visit Fang today since Gazzy and Angel's parents were home today. "Oh, hello, Max."

"You don't mind walking, do you?" she asked me.

I shook my head. "Nah, walking is fine."

Max didn't live too far from the school. We made small talk on the way there. It was funny how you could go to school with someone for years and not utter a single word to them until something happened and you had to. She seemed nice though, and unlike most people, she didn't treat me like I was below her. Unlike most people, she didn't ask what happened to me and how I became blind.

"I think Fang likes you," I admitted to her. "I've never heard him talk about anyone the way he talks about you."

She laughed, almost anxiously. "Well, I guess that's a good thing."

It was a good thing, but I didn't tell her I thought that. Fang needed someone else to talk to besides me.

* * *

---Gazzy's POV---

"I'm serious, Gazzy!" Angel insisted. "I heard them!"

"Heard them what, Angel?" I frowned.

"They want to _sell_ us. Our parents want to _sell_ us!" she exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes. Lately, Angel had been telling lots of stories. She even told Iggy them and I was positive that they annoyed him. "No they don't. You probably heard them wrong."

She sighed and fell silent.

"Iggy has gotta stop letting you have sugar before bed," I told her. "Then you might actually have _normal_ dreams."

Angel stuck her tongue out at me. "Your dreams aren't any more normal than mine!"

I laughed, but she stormed out of the room and down the hall.

* * *

**This upcoming week is going to be busy for me, so it may be a while before I can update again. But I'll try my best. I'm working on some new stories too. I got lots of ideas. Thanks for reading!!**


	7. Chapter 7

**The Runaways – Chapter 7**

By MyNameIsCAL

---Nudge's POV---

My parents were wanted. No wonder I didn't see them often. Apparently they were part of some drug ring. The police had been after them for years and years. They were looking for more people who were involved and had caught a few, but it was their biggest break yet. And how did I know all of this? I was standing in the mall, watching the news out of some TV store. The fact that there was a TV store in the mall still amazed me.

But I wondered if I should be disgusted. The money I had used today wasn't obtained legally. If the dirty world of drug dealing had been Hollywood, my parents would be something like movie stars. I wanted to cry, but I wouldn't, not here in public. The news hadn't even mentioned me, but I knew that the cops were still looking for me. Maybe my parents were trying to protect me. As much as that seemed like child neglect, letting me run around by myself, I could not ever dream of being put into foster care or something. I'd seen some pretty creepy Law and Order episodes about those places when the TV actually worked.

Since I couldn't warm my food in a microwave, I ended up eating fast food from the food court. I stared at my hand, where that guy's number was scrawled. By now, I had it memorized. What was his name? Some name that sounded like it should belong to a rock star and not some blindo. Oh, Iggy it was.

_Maybe you need help_, a voice inside my head said._ It's not safe to be alone_.

But I've always been alone.

* * *

---Angel's POV---

Iggy wasn't going to be around today. Instead, our parents were home for once.

"How was your day?" Mom asked.

Gazzy replied. "Good I guess."

"Spring Break starts next week. We're thinking of taking a trip to California. What do you two think?" Dad peeked over his newspaper.

"That sounds awesome!" Gazzy exclaimed.

I tried to agree enthusiastically.

Dad smiled. "Well, get your homework done. Mom's cooking dinner tonight."

Gazzy and I went up the stairs to his room and spread out on the floor with our books. We could hear our parents talking. I put down my book and started to listen to them.

"Hey, Gazzy, listen to them," I whispered.

He rolled his eyes but put down his book too.

"How much did they offer you?" Dad questioned.

"Half a million," Mom answered.

"And how are we doing the exchange?"

"They'll leave us a car, we'll drive with the kids over to the warehouse, drop the car, take the money, and they'll fly us out to the border."

"We should have had more kids," Dad laughed. "We'd have enough money to take over the business."

"But we don't need to run the business," Mom responded. "And we weren't even supposed to have kids, Jeff."

"That's why we're selling them," he replied. "And you and I, we can run off somewhere in Mexico and work things from that side. You know, we never had that honeymoon I promised."

Mom was laughing now.

Gazzy's eyes widened. "They _are_ selling us!"

"Shh!" I hushed.

"We have to do something," he said, panicking.

I took a moment to think. "We'll tell Iggy."

"Iggy?" he sounded incredulous. "He's blind! What's he gonna do for us?"

I shrugged. "He'll figure out something. We can always count on him."

* * *

---Iggy's POV---

Max lived in the nicer part of town. It was this part of town where the people with money came from. The "popular" people lived over here too, the cheerleaders and snobby jocks that beat up the less fortunate in the hall, or at least the people who couldn't fend for themselves. Yet Max was different from them. She kept a conversation going as we made our way to her house, making sure I was ok keeping up every now and then.

It made sense to me why Fang liked her so much now.

"Be careful of the steps," she warned as we reached her porch.

Her house seemed big, at least to me, bigger than mine. She led me down the hall and into a room where Fang was.

"Well, long time no see." He sounded exhausted. I wondered how bad his father had beaten him. Sometimes I wished I could see.

Max pulled up a chair next to the side of the bed and left us to talk.

"How're you doing?" I asked.

"I'm alright," he muttered. "Hopefully I'll get to school once before break starts."

"I got all your work you missed," I told him, digging through my bag.

"Thanks, Ig." He coughed a few times. There was a long silence before he spoke again. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

"Well, there's not much you can do if you can't walk," I reminded him.

He sighed. "Well you get along just fine being blind."

"I still have mobility."

"That's not what I'm getting at," he half growled at me. Then, almost softly, "I'm worried about what he's doing to my mom."

Fang would never admit it, but he had a soft side. It was the reason he hadn't run away any sooner. His father showing up and hurting him had just pushed him to it.

"Exactly how long are they letting you stay here?" I asked after a while.

"Max and her mom told me as long as I need a safe place to stay." He sounded distracted suddenly.

"You like her, don't you," I said quietly.

He denied it.

"Fang, I haven't heard you talk about anyone that way before like you did on the phone last night," I smirked. "C'mon, just admit to it already."

"Why does it matter to you?" he mumbled.

I grinned. "It doesn't. I just thought I'd kick you while you're down."

He punched me in the shoulder, but it was half-hearted as he grunted in pain.

Before I could make a comeback, my cell phone rang in my pocket.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Iggy? It's Nudge. I ran into you earlier…"

* * *

**Thanks for reading! We'll loop back to Fang and Max in the next chapter before we see what happens to Gazzy, Angel and Nudge.**

**And if you've got the chance, check out my latest stories: "Silence", "Lie Tonight", and "Cheating Death".**


	8. Chapter 8

**The Runaways – Chapter 8**

By MyNameIsCAL

---Max's POV---

Iggy left in a hurry all of a sudden. He barely said goodbye as I walked back into Fang's room with drinks.

Fang had his eyes closed, rubbing his leg.

"Can I tell you something?" he asked.

"Of course," I said, placing his drink on the bedside table.

He sat up, his eyes meeting mine. "Sit for a while."

I took a seat on the opposite side of the bed. It took a long time for him to say anything else. He looked content with staring at the wall, as if he might be able to burn a hole through it with his eyes.

"I haven't told anyone else…My dad did more than beat me up," he said in an almost whisper. "My mom is a drug addict. And I stole her drugs to sell to Josh so I could get money to support myself. The car you drove me here with I stole from my dad. And my dad was never around. He just…Showed up the other night. He's messing with my mom's head. Then he drugged me, beat me, and he…"

Fang trailed off, his eyes going from the wall, to me, and then back to the wall.

"It's ok, you can tell me," I assured him. "I won't tell anyone."

He closed his eyes. "He raped me."

Tears began to stream from Fang's eyes. I let him lean against me as he cried, shaking. He began to sob how he didn't get help because he was trying to protect his mother. He told me of how he sold stolen drugs to Josh every Friday night before going to the mall where he would see me. By the time his sobs turned to shudders, I felt like he had just gave me his whole life story, revealing his secrets along the way.

I gave him a hug and he hugged me back, his chin resting on my shoulder as he sniffled.

"I'll tell you why we took you in, Fang," I whispered in his ear. "I had a brother, Ari. And Jeb, my dad, beat him all the time. Ari wanted to run away, and when he tried, he got hit by a car. Seeing you and the way you had been hurt, I couldn't just let you go off by yourself. I didn't want to see something bad happen to you."

Fang and I pulled away from each other. His eyes met mine, full of deep sadness. In exchange for his story, I exchanged the one I had never told anyone else.

"Please stay here," I pleaded, feeling teary myself now. "I've never had anyone to talk to like you."

He gave me a sad smile, taking my hand. "Thank you, Max."

* * *

---Fang's POV---

Opening up to Max made me feel a whole lot better. A weight had lifted off me and now it felt easier to talk to Max about anything. She sat at the end of the bed now, eating dinner with me as she told me about her father.

"Why do you have to see him?" I asked.

"Well, Mom was never the one to fight back." Max never said _my mom_. I found that interesting. "And Jeb wanted to split custody. I fought with our lawyer that I only had to spend every other weekend, but it ended up being every weekend until I turn eighteen. That's next year."

"So you won't be around this weekend."

"Unfortunately, no," she responded. "But you should invite Iggy over or something to keep you company. Mom and Ella won't mind."

"I guess I should catch up on homework too," I said.

"Make yourself at home," she offered. "You should unpack your bags, get your clothes into drawers."

"Are you sure? I don't want to take up so much space."

She shook her head. "Hey, this is your room now."

I looked around. How did someone like me get so lucky to meet someone like Max?

* * *

---Max's POV---

I thought about today as I lay in bed. Fang just seemed so misunderstood now. I felt bad for him. But there was something else about him. Something that would make me resent going to Jeb's more and longing to come back home sooner.

I didn't really have a lot of friends. I guess Ella, well she was really my best friend. Telling Fang about Ari had been the first time I had ever told anyone about it. I don't know what had compelled me to tell him, but it felt right telling him, like he really needed to know about it. Now that I thought about it, I sort of trusted Fang. And trust wasn't something I let people gain easily.

Turning to my side, I faced the wall. It was late now and only the beginning of the week. Once this weekend was over, I could finally enjoy Spring Break. A whole two weeks to wake up at noon, sleep at three in the morning, and watch TV reruns. The best part, I wouldn't have to see Jeb over break.

Still, Fang kept invading my thoughts. He was constantly on my mind. In school, I would sit and stare off out the window, wondering how he was doing back at home. I even started to notice his empty seat in my classes.

"Does anyone know where Nick is?" Mrs. Hutchins asked.

"He'll be in school tomorrow," I replied.

Mrs. Hutchins looked at me, taken aback. "Oh, ok."

The rest of the class gave me strange looks too.

When the bell rang, Josh approached me.

"Is he okay?" Josh questioned quietly.

I shrugged. "Considering what happened to him, yeah I guess he is."

"Tell him if he needs anything to call me," Josh said.

"Ok, thanks," I nodded.

* * *

---Fang's POV---

Max helped me out of her mom's car. It was Wednesday, the halfway point of the school week. She carried my backpack as we went through the hallways. People whispered as we went by. I would ask the same questions if I were them too: What was someone like Max doing with someone like him?

We stopped at my locker and she grabbed the books I needed. Today was going to be interesting.

None of my teachers questioned my absence. I wondered what they thought of me. It wasn't a secret that Josh was dealing drugs and that I was his friend. The teachers probably knew, but Josh had money and money meant power to his family, so the teachers didn't mess with us.

"So, you do you want to sit with me at lunch?" I asked Max.

I waited for her to say no, but she didn't.

"Where do you want to sit?" she responded instead.

"Where do you usually sit?"

"With my lab partner and her friends," Max shrugged. "They won't miss me."

I looked around the lunchroom for Iggy, but I didn't see him.

"What's wrong?" she questioned.

"Iggy isn't here. Usually I sit with him," I answered.

We sat at the table Iggy and I usually sat at anyway. Every now and then I would catch someone pointing or staring at us. They were quick to look away when they noticed I was looking. Max seemed to be less self-conscious, although she wasn't the one that had a face covered full of bruises. Then again, I was worried she would be made a social outcast because of me. No one hung around the people who made friends with drug dealers and addicts besides the same kind of people.

"Don't pay attention to them," she told me. "Just let them think what they want about what happened to you."

I started to eat my sandwich. "That's not what I'm worried about."

* * *

**If you've got any ideas, comments, suggestions, etc, don't hesitate to tell me via review or message. I'm open to a lot of things and I often refer back to reviews to help think of ideas. Thanks for reading!**

**Oh, and if you get the chance, please vote on TaylorSwiftTwilightFan75's poll on her profile. It would mean a lot to her if you voted and I always like to help people out!**


	9. Chapter 9

**The Runaways – Chapter 8**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Nudge's POV-

I met Iggy at his house and he graciously let me in and offered me food. In fact, he cooked it himself.

"Are you really blind?" I asked as he set a plate of pasta in front of me.

"Yup," he said with a smile, sitting down with his own plate. "I can't see a thing."

"So, where are your parents?"

"They work. More hours now since, you know, the economy is bad," Iggy told me.

He already knew my story. I told him as he cooked and he offered his house a place to stay for me, something too generous. But it couldn't hurt, right? I mean, what could I blind kid do to me?

"You can walk me to school," he had said. "My buddy who usually does that for me hurt himself and he can't really walk."

We had even discovered we went to the same school. It was just that he was a junior and I was only a freshman.

Later that night, I settled, hidden in his closet with some blankets to sleep.

* * *

-Iggy's POV-

My mom kissed me goodbye as she ran out the door. "You have someone to walk you home too?"

"Yup," I assured her. "See you later."

She smiled and closed the door. I listened to the car pull out of the driveway before I told Nudge she could come down.

"Breakfast is on the table," I told her.

We ate, not saying much. As much trouble as I would get in if my parents found out that I was feeding and housing a daughter of drug dealers. Then again, my freakin' best friend was a drug dealer too. I wondered how someone like me got caught up in all of this. Maybe Fang would finally be in school today.

The heat, you could feel it today, even though it was only the morning. I honestly hated Arizona. It was too hot, a desert. Not to mention I burned in the summer. Nudge walked beside me to my right as we headed towards the school. As we passed Gazzy and Angel's house, the door burst open and they ran up to me.

"Hey, what're you doing? Shouldn't you two be at school already?" I frowned.

Angel took me by the hand and pulled me towards their house.

"What're you doing?" I almost tripped, falling on her.

I heard Gazzy talking to Nudge. "Who are you?"

"I'm Nudge," she replied. "I, uhm…"

Almost comically, he said, "Well, you come with us to!"

Once they dragged us inside, Angel closed the door.

"Iggy, we need to talk to you," Angel said.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, seeing that you've kidnapped me, I guess I don't have a choice but to listen."

"Our parents want to get rid of us," Gazzy blurted out.

"What're you talking about?" I shook my head. The things these kids thought up. Nudge must have thought they were nuts.

"No, Ig, we're serious," Angel tugged at my hand, pulling me to the couch. "They're selling us for money. They're going to pretend to take us to California for spring break and _sell_ us!"

"Alright, alright, calm down for a minute!" I exclaimed.

Nudge took a seat next to me. "Your parents want to sell you? Why?"

"For money! And they're going to run off to Mexico," Gazzy told her.

This was crazy.

"We're not insane," Angel protested at my incredulous look. "We even found an email. I printed it out."

"It says they're going to be sound for half a million dollars," Nudge said, taking the paper. "And they'll be used as drug smugglers through the border. Iggy, I don't think they're kidding. The email is dated a week ago and it's from….."

"From who?"

"My father."

* * *

-Gazzy's POV-

"Your father?" Angel took the paper back from Nudge.

"Yeah, but he got arrested with my mom yesterday," Nudge sighed. "Iggy offered to help me get off the street. I never knew who they really were until I saw the news."

"That explains why dad was making so many phone calls after he watched the news," I concluded. "He wanted to make sure the deal was still on."

"And it is," Angel finished.

Iggy sat silently, thinking. And then, he spoke slowly. "I think I have an idea. Each of you grab a backpack and get everything you need. I'll meet you back here in ten minutes. Nudge, will you watch them?"

"Of course," Nudge agreed.

Iggy was off back towards his house to get his own things.

"We're running away?" I asked as Angel and I started to get things.

She nodded. "I guess we are."

* * *

-Iggy's POV-

Fang used to stay at this place, an unfinished apartment building not too far from his mom's place. From Josh, he lifted a couple of keys to the finished apartments and took refuge there during his mother's fits of drug induced rages. He gave me a set of keys, saying he didn't want to keep the ones he was using at his place because his mother liked to go through his things.

Although Fang, over the past weeks, had been worrying about his mom more and more and stopped going to the abandoned building. I'm surprised he went to the mall instead of there after his father beat him up.

An hour later, after walking in the heat, we reached the place.

"Read the key. What room does it say?" I asked, handing it to Nudge.

"Room eleven," she told me.

"Lead us there."

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

**The Runaways – Chapter 10**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Fang's POV-

Max and I sat on the bed in what was now my room. We were doing homework. Well, in other words, I was copying Max's homework so I wouldn't have to sit here for hours doing all the work I missed in class. Just as Max was about to say something, my phone started to ring.

"Hello?" I answered, yawning.

"Fang?" It was Iggy.

"Ig, where the hell were you today?"

"Look, something came up," he told me. "Remember the old abandoned apartment you have keys to? Can you meet me there."

"Ig, I can't drive."

"Well get Max to bring you!" Iggy sounded frustrated. "I need your help!"

"Alright, I'll do my best," I frowned.

He hung up and Max gave me a questioning look.

"Can you drive me somewhere?" I asked.

"We don't have a car," Max reminded me.

I thought for a moment. "We still have my dad's car."

Max had to think for a minute. "Alright, let's go."

* * *

-Max's POV-

We ended up near one of the worst parts of town, but Fang seemed to be anxious to get where we were going, so I didn't ask any questions.

"Stop here," he murmured.

I pulled the car up to the curb and moved to his side quickly to help him out. It seemed like Fang had been here before. He led the way, struggling up a flight of stairs, and into a dark hallway. It was hot in here, sticky almost. It was some old apartment building, but the parking lot was empty and it seemed to be abandoned.

Fang went to a door that read _Eleven_ and knocked twice. The door opened and Iggy let us in. There were two kids sitting on the couch and another kid who could be in high school. I didn't recognize any of them.

"Alright, this is Max," Iggy said, gesturing to me. It was strange though, considering he couldn't see. "And Nudge, this is Fang."

The older girl nodded.

"Max," Iggy motioned. "This is Angel, Gazzy, and Nudge."

"Out of all the people you ask for help, it's _him_?" the little boy, Gazzy, frowned.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Fang grit his teeth.

"Gazzy, shut up," Angel, the little girl, muttered, elbowing him.

Iggy interjected. "I know you don't like Fang, but you don't really have a choice."

"And I'm hungry," Gazzy protested.

"Alright, alright enough," Fang growled. He turned to me, his eyes softening a little. "Do you think you could run out and grab some food for them?"

"Sure," I agreed. "I'll be back soon."

He gave me a small smile before turning to the others. "Now tell me what happened."

And then I was off.

* * *

-Fang's POV-

Their stories came out in a rush, but it was clear they were connected. Nudge's parents were part of a drug ring. Gazzy and Angel's parents were going to sell them. Out of chance, I guess, they were being sold to Nudge's father. It made me wonder if my mother and father had any relations with their parents. The fact that we had all been touched by a problem stemming from the same source, drugs, was chilling.

There were more pressing problems though. The authorities would be looking for all of them. Or at least Iggy's parents would be looking for him. I had met them a few times and I had to say, they were some of the nicest people in the world.

"You can't stay here," I said, thinking out loud.

"Well, you see, that was the problem I came to," Iggy said in a hushed voice so the others couldn't here. "And I was thinking, maybe we could run away and get far from here where no one would ever find us. You know what they'll do to Gazzy and Angel and Nudge. They'll stick them in foster homes or places like that."

"Ig, I know you want to help them, but you're _blind_," I reminded him. "How are you going to take care of them?"

"That's where you come in," he responded.

I stared at him for a minute. It didn't seem like a bad idea though. I didn't have anything to lose running away with them. My mother was never really the mother I need, my father used us, and the chances I was going to have a successful future was pretty much down the drain since the day I was born. As bad as this was for them, this was the perfect chance for me to break away from everything, clean myself of ever being involved with Josh and the others.

"Alright, so we run. Then what?"

"Well, we'll just have to find figure out what comes next when we get there," he said. "Seriously, we need you to help us, Fang."

I had never heard Iggy sound so desperate before.

"I know," I promised him. "Just, we'll figure…"

And then Max walked in.

"We'll what?" Iggy waited expectantly.

_Max_…She'd be the one thing I would have to leave.

"We'll figure out something by the end of spring break, alright?" I said after a while. "I gotta go now, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," Iggy nodded. "I'll see you later."

* * *

-Max's POV-

Fang seemed preoccupied as he insisted we leave right away. I followed him back to the car and he directed down the street.

"You can stay in the car," he told me.

"Where are we?"

"My mom's place." He opened the door.

I followed him.

A couple doors down from where we parked, he opened the door, leaning on his crutches heavily. As we made our way inside, he started to call out for his mother, but it was obvious she wasn't there. All over the place, there were these plastic bags, filled with, well, drugs.

"My father is still around," he murmured, reaching for a duffle bag in the corner of the room. "My mom can't afford this. He's using her."

And then he started to bag all the drugs.

"Fang, what are you doing?" I could hear my voice shake.

He didn't answer me.

"Fang!"

"We have one last stop to make before we go back to your house," he finally said.

If I knew any better, I would have left him here and walked away, but something deep down inside told me this had to do with what he had been discussing with Iggy when I walked in.

"Alright," I agreed reluctantly.

I helped him finish stuffing the duffle bag and we zipped it, hurrying back to the car.

* * *

-Fang's POV-

"Jesus, Fang, how did you get all of this?" Josh stared at me, gaping.

"Josh, Man, I'm leaving soon. I need money and that's all I could get for you," I told him.

He disappeared into the back room and came out with a brief case. It was filled with cash.

"I think that should cover everything," Josh said, handing it over. "But hey, if you ever come around, don't forget to stop by."

"Of course." But I was secretly hoping to never see Josh again.

Max waited in the car patiently for me. For the entire car ride back to her house, we said nothing to each other, even as she helped me into the house and back to bed. She sat at the end of it, starting with homework again. Her mom still wasn't home and Ella had been off somewhere else.

"I guess I owe you an explanation now," I finally spoke.

She looked up at me. "Yes, I think you do."

I told her about Nudge and Gazzy and Angel. She listened without saying anything until I told her about what Iggy wanted to do.

"There must be a better way than running," she said, moving to sit right next to me on the bed.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," I sighed. "I'm in no condition to be on the move with them. At least I can give them money. I mean, I told him we wouldn't do anything until break is over."

Max's eyes suddenly met mine. "I'll go with you if you go with them."

I shook my head. "You've done too much for me already."

And then Max leaned over and kissed me, changing how I saw everything.


	11. Chapter 11

**The Runaways – Chapter 11**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Iggy's POV-

My phone had started to ring nonstop since last night. Finally around midnight, it had stopped. It had been my parents calling. By now, they had probably reported me missing. According to Nudge, it was now ten in the morning, but Gazzy and Angel were still asleep. My phone started ringing again.

"My parents again?" I muttered, handing my phone to Nudge.

"No, it's Fang." She handed it back to me.

"Hello?"

"Iggy, how long do you think you can last there?" he asked.

"I don't know, a few more days if you bring us food," I told him.

He paused to think. "I need time to get things together."

But there was something he was holding back. "What else do you need time for, Fang?"

"Max," he sighed. "She wants to come with us, but I can't let her get involved in this. I mean, even you Iggy, you shouldn't have to be part of this."

"Then why don't you let her come?" Even I knew that Fang, whether he would ever admit it or not, wanted Max to come. He needed her to come because you could tell her really did care about him and well, Max, she cared about him too.

"All my life I've been waiting for something to come around that I could actually help with," I told him.

"Tuesday," he said after a while. "We'll leave town that day. I'll get a car. If anything changes, I'll call you, alright?"

"Ok, thanks, Fang."

Still, he didn't hang up.

"Fang, Max can help us," I said.

"I know." And then there was a click. He had hung up. I let out a sigh and closed my phone.

* * *

-Nudge's POV-

Iggy seemed stressed out. Gazzy and Angel were restless, trying to make the best of this apartment that had only a couch and a bathroom. It was Saturday now, our second day here.

"Will you check my phone?" he asked.

I looked at it. This was the fifth time he told me to check. He was waiting for his parents to call again, but they hadn't. It worried him, even though he wasn't planning to answer.

Max had stopped by a couple hours ago, food in bags for us. She didn't stay for long though.

"Aren't you hungry?" I sat down next to him on the floor.

"No, I'll eat later," he replied.

We sat in silence for a while, Gazzy and Angel eating on the other side of the room quietly.

"Can I ask you something?" I said after a while.

"Sure," he agreed. "Anything."

"Why did you help us?"

Iggy's brows came together as he thought. "Because being blind, I've always felt like I'd never be able to do anything to help anyone. You know Fang, he's always got something troubling him, but as much as I try to help him, he always ends up helping me. I figured at least if I couldn't help him…"

"You could help us," I finished for him.

"Yeah," he nodded.

I leaned against him, my head finding his shoulder. "I'm glad you helped us."

His arm came around my slowly. "Me too."

* * *

-Fang's POV-

It was sort of late now, around ten-thirty. Max had surprised me by calling, telling me she had dropped more food off for Iggy. She was over at her father's house for the weekend, leaving me a lot of time to think about running away. Ever since Max had kissed me, I couldn't stop thinking about her. I suddenly felt like I had known her all my life, like she was the one thing that had been missing all along.

But she couldn't get dragged into all this mess.

I sat, watching TV. It had been a quiet day. I talked to Iggy earlier, played some guitar when Ella and Dr. M, and then had a quiet dinner with them. They were asleep now, having said goodnight hours ago.

Just as I was about to doze off, there were footsteps coming in. I turned to see Max coming in. "What are you doing here?"

She took a seat next to me. "It's lonely at my dad's."

All those thoughts that were running through my head about Max getting put in danger disappeared. I put my arm around her and she leaned against me.

For a moment, our eyes suddenly met. Hers looking up at me and mine looking down at her. Without saying anything else, I leaned down and crushed my lips against hers. She started to kiss me back, pushing me back on the couch.

And then, I picked up on the news. "Mary Griffith and James Griffith, Senior, were murdered today in their house, their son, James, missing…"

I broke away from Max and she looked embarrassed, apologizing.

"No, it's not you…Just…The news," I pointed.

We sat up, staring at the TV. James. That was Iggy's real name. Those were his parents.

"No…" I stared at the TV.

"What's wrong?" Max asked, touching my arm softly.

"Those are Iggy's parents," I breathed out.

"…were shot dead and found this afternoon by the mailman when he knocked on their door with a package…" The reporter stood outside of Iggy's house, now surrounded by yellow tape.

"We have to tell him," I muttered, reaching for my crutches.

Without questioning me, Max followed me to my dad's stolen car.

* * *

-Iggy's POV-

Nudge was asleep, leaning against me. It had been a long day, but the food Max brought made things more bearable. We kept quiet, holding our breath every time footsteps went by. There had to be other people hiding here besides us.

By now, it had to be late. No one else was awake, but there were heavy footsteps coming down the hall. And then there was a metal sound. Crutches. It had to be Fang. There was a knock on the door.

"Hm…" Nudge groaned as I stood, disturbing her sleep.

I made my way to the door and opened it.

"Ig, I'm sorry to come here so late," he muttered, pushing his way inside. Max was here too.

There was something off about the way he was speaking. "Fang, what's wrong?"

"You need to sit down," he told me.

I did, back next to Nudge, her head falling onto my leg for a pillow again.

"I was watching the news," Fang breathed out, speaking slowly. "And someone killed your parents, Ig. I…I couldn't even think of telling you over the phone…"

My heart sank. Whatever he said next, I didn't hear.


	12. Chapter 12

**The Runaways – Chapter 12**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Angel's POV-

Iggy wasn't really here, at least not mentally. Max stopped by almost every day with food for us. It had been a while since we had seen Fang though. I wondered where he'd been. According to Iggy, Fang had been staying at Max's house after his dad beat him up. It made me start to think that Fang might not be such a creep after all, especially since he was helping us.

And then, one day, Fang burst into the apartment, looking like all the energy had been drained from him. He shook as he stood there, leaning on his crutches.

"I got everything together," Fang announced, his voice hoarse. "We're leaving tomorrow."

That seemed to snap Iggy out of his trance of staring at the wall, even though he couldn't really see. "Great."

Fang leaned against the wall, Max giving him a look of worry. Now that I thought I could see Max, it looked like they were both tired. Her eyes were red, like she had been crying.

"Is Max coming with us?" I asked.

As she said yes, he said no.

"Tomorrow morning," Fang said before Max could protest. "Be ready because I'll be here early."

And then they were gone.

* * *

-Max's POV-

I sat on Fang's bed, watching him go through his things, almost angrily. The two of us, before heading to see Iggy, had fought about me going with him. He didn't want me to go. Yet over the past few days, being around Fang, I felt like I had known him for almost forever. But it was simple. He wanted to protect me.

"Your CDs and your guitar," I said quietly. "You can leave them here. I'll keep them for you if you ever come back."

He sucked in a breath and then took a seat next to me on the bed.

"I don't want to fight you," he told me. "I don't…I don't want to leave you here. And I've never felt this way about anyone before, Max. It's just, I don't want you to get hurt. You have a family that loves you, but I've got nothing to lose…"

"You've got me to lose," I blurted out, and suddenly everything I felt for him came pouring out. "You're the only one that listens to me, you're the only one who's ever made me feel, I don't know, special. I'll regret letting you just leave without me, knowing I had the chance to go with you."

I felt like I was going to cry again. Fang looked like he was going to turn away, but then he looked me straight in the eye. "Then it's your decision to come or not."

"Then I'm coming," I told him firmly.

* * *

-Angels' POV-

Late that night, Iggy's ringing phone woke us up.

"Hello?" he grumbled.

There was silence as he listened. And then he suddenly closed it and threw it against the wall, breaking it into pieces.

"What the heck are you doing?" Gazzy exclaimed.

"That was your mom," Iggy's voice shook. "They told me that they're going to find us and kill us."

* * *

-Max's POV-

Sleeping was cut short as Fang staggered into my room and woke me.

"We have to go now. Do you have everything ready?" he whispered. "Iggy called me. They're in danger."

I nodded and scribbled a note for Mom and Ella:

_Dear Mom and Ella,_

_ By the time you read this, I'll be gone. If you watch the news, you'll learn about Mr. and Mrs. Griffith. You'll learn about their neighbors that killed them and their missing children. Well, those children, they're not really missing. Fang knows them and he has to help them, but I feel that if I don't help them that I'd regret it for some reason. _

_ What I'm really trying to say is that I'm running away. And you need to know that this was my own decision and I hope that you'll understand. I'll try to send you a letter every month. But someday, we'll all come back, I promise._

_ Love,_

_ Max_

"Are you ready to go?" Fang asked, bag slung over his shoulder as he fumbled with his crutches.

I left the note on the kitchen table and picked up my own bag, leading the way out the door.

* * *

-Angel's POV-

It wasn't a surprise that Max came with Fang. In fact, she was the one driving. We piled into the minivan and pulled the doors closed.

"Where'd you get this?" Iggy asked.

Fang replied. "I bought it."

"With what?"

There was hesitation. "Money I got from Josh."

I wondered who Josh was, but that probably wasn't for me to know. The car moved forward and we were speeding off into the night. I leaned against Gazzy and tried to get some sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

**The Runaways – Chapter 13**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Gazzy's POV-

Fang started to seem less scary and more human now that we were stuck around him. He seemed to be in a lot of pain, and Max, who had apparently saved him, definitely had a thing for Fang who definitely shared the same feelings in return. You could tell he was protective of her. After hours of driving, he kept insisting they pull over so they could switch and she could rest. Of course he was in no condition to do that.

We kept the news on, but so far they were only talking about Iggy missing along with Angel and me. Max said she left a note with her mom explaining things. It wouldn't be long before the news would be talking about her too. I wondered if anyone would miss Fang.

Iggy had taken a liking to Nudge. It didn't seem the stress of our situation reached them as they talked quietly, her head rested against his shoulder. Every now and then you could hear them laugh about something.

"We're stopping to get food," Max announced as we pulled into the parking lot. "What do you all want?"

We rambled what we wanted, one by one, and Max and Fang left us, going inside the restaurant so no one would have to see us.

I wasn't really that hungry, considering I hadn't eaten since yesterday. My stomach had been churning all day though, thinking about how my parents had threatened to kill us, how they had killed Iggy's innocent parents. He seemed to have forgotten about that now, but maybe he was just trying to forget to make things easier for all of us. I wanted to apologize, but I knew bringing it up wasn't a good idea.

Staring out the window, I could see Max and Fang coming back. He had left his crutches in the car, limping heavily now as he struggled to carry the bags of our food. When they got closer, I could hear Max and him arguing.

"You shouldn't be putting weight on it," she scolded.

"I'll be fine," he insisted in a low growl, getting into the car.

He turned and handed us our food.

* * *

-Nudge's POV-

I had no idea where we were, but it was nice to finally be out of the car. According to Fang, this was somewhere in the desert, camping grounds where no one would look for us. Iggy and Gazzy were working on starting a fire as we sat around them, finishing up the food. The sunlight was almost gone now, our bodies becoming outlines in the night. As soon as the flame sparked, the fire began to blaze, and for a moment, we all watched it in awe.

Max and Fang came from the car, both of them looking exhausted. He could barely walk, even with his crutches.

"There's a tent in the trunk," he murmured as Max helped him to sit down by the fire. "I'll help you set it up."

She disappeared back to the car and returned with a box, but she started to set it up herself and Fang watched helplessly, a look of distress on his face. After a few minutes, Angel and Gazzy went to help Max.

"Four of us can fit in the tent," Fang said, his voice hoarse. "Two of us in the car. The seats can fold into the floor."

"Why don't you take the car," Iggy offered. "It'll be more comfortable than the ground."

"Alright," Fang agreed, almost reluctantly. "There are blankets and stuff in the trunk too. I'll get them."

He started to get up, but I shook my head and ran off ahead of him, leaving him to slouch back against the bags he was leaning on.

When I came back, the tent was pitched. The others were settling inside already. I got in with the blankets, giving one to Angel and Gazzy, and pulling the other over Iggy and me. Iggy closed the tent and I snuggled against him.

"Goodnight," he whispered.

"Goodnight."

* * *

-Gazzy's POV-

Through the tent, I could still see Max and Fang sitting out there by the fire. He was leaned against her, talking in a strained voice, making it hard to make out what he was saying.

"We'll go towards California," Fang said. "Death Valley, we can spend some time there. Or maybe Yellowstone. Camping will be safer than going to hotels. It gives people less of a chance to recognize us."

"Of course," Max agreed quietly.

Their voices seemed to get quieter and quieter, or maybe I was just falling asleep.

"You need rest," Max said, helping Fang up. "C'mon."

And they put out the fire. The last thing I heard were the doors of the car close with a soft thud, then slumber consumed me.

* * *

-Nudge's POV-

Fang seemed like he was in a better mood in the morning. The smell of fast food breakfast filled the air. Max and he must have driven out to get us food.

"I don't know if this will do any good," Max said, handing Fang a medicine bottle. "But I took the Advil from my house."

"Thanks," he said, a half smile forming.

We packed up the tent and headed out again on the highway, heading for California, according to Max. Fang had turned the radio off and now had some rock music on.

"Do you ever think that we'll be able to go back to Arizona?" I asked Iggy. "That we'll ever be able to live normal lives?"

Iggy took a moment to think, his pale blue eyes seeming to focus for just a minute, as if he could see the answer. "Perhaps. But we haven't got anyone to go back to in Arizona. Well, Max does."

"Why would she leave her family for us?" I wondered out loud, watching her drive as her fingers tapped out the beat against the steering wheel.

Iggy only shrugged and answered in a matter of fact way. "She came because she felt it would be wrong to let Fang, and to let all of us, go without her help. But mostly, I think she came for Fang. It might not seem like it, but I've heard Fang talk about her and they're quite attached to each other."

I laughed. "You know, that's sorta, I don't know, romantic isn't the right word…"

Iggy laughed, grinning down at me. "Yeah, I know what you mean."


	14. Chapter 14

**The Runaways – Chapter 14**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

It was officially announced in the morning. I was missing now. The FBI was looking for us, we were like fugitives, except we weren't going to get in trouble if they found us. Well, it was a delicate situation now. Gazzy and Angel's parents, and whoever they worked for, released a statement to the media that they were after us too. They said they would stop at nothing to get us, and as scary as that seemed, it still felt like we were living in another world, driving late nights, and ducking into camping sites or parking lots of deserted buildings to hide during the day.

"Do we have anymore Advil?" Fang asked.

"No, you finished it yesterday," I told him. "Besides, I don't think it's doing anything for you. What you need to do is rewrap your knee. C'mon, we'll stop at the convenience store over there."

"But you can't go in!" Fang exclaimed. "You're all over the news…"

"Shhh, they're all sleeping," I hushed, pulling into the parking lot. "So you'll go in and get it by yourself."

Fang grumbled, taking one of his crutches, and hobbled to the door.

I turned, looking at the others. It had been a long day. We had to wake them earlier than usual because the ranger was coming around, checking to make sure everyone there had registered, which we hadn't.

They looked peaceful, sleeping. Iggy had his arm around Nudge and Angel was curled up in a ball next to her brother. I almost drifted off to sleep, but then I heard shouting.

"Hey, you! I know you!"

Fang put the bag on the hood of the car. "You must be mistaken."

"No, you're Josh's supplier," the guy went on. "I know you. And you're the reason I can't get a fix. You stop selling or something?"

"I'm done…selling," Fang told him tiredly.

And that's when the punches started to fly. These two other guys came out from around the corner and they grabbed Fang, pushing him up against the wall.

"What's wrong with your leg?" one of the guys asked. "Did someone else beat us to you?"

I jumped out of the car, the crutch that Fang had left in the car in hand. I whacked the guy that talked to Fang first, grabbing the other two's attention.

"Let go of him," I growled.

Fang looked at me, blood dripping from his nose.

The two guys turned away from me, throwing another punch at him, so I threw myself at one of them, and we fell to the ground. It took one punch to the face to knock him out.

"I'll give you one more chance," I said to the last guy standing.

He held up his hands and then ran.

I grabbed Fang by the arm before he could fall forward. Grabbing the bag and his crutches, I helped him back into the car.

"C'mon, let's get out of here," I mumbled, driving away.

"There's a campsite five miles down this road," Fang said, holding his nose.

After we got there, I helped Fang into the bathroom. His nose had stopped bleeding, which was a good sign. I remember after I broke my nose, it just bled and bled and it hurt a lot.

"Does it look broken?" he asked as I wiped his face.

"No," I assured him. "Does it feel broken?"

"No."

"Then it's not."

We made our way back to the car, rousing the others to set up the tent. After they finished, Fang and I retreated back to the car. I settled against him, the blanket around us, and he put his arms around me.

"What are we going to do after this?" I asked him quietly. "If we ever get to stop running."

"I don't know," he replied, his chin resting on my shoulder. "Get a job, maybe go to college."

I thought about Mom. "But Gazzy and Angel and Nudge. They're not old enough to take care of themselves."

"We'll find a way to keep an eye on them," he reassured me.

"Maybe Mom would take them in, like she did for you," I thought out loud.

"Maybe," he agreed.

I turned to face him. "Do you think we'll ever stop running?"

"I hope so," he said, tucking my hair behind my ear.

And then he kissed me.

* * *

-Fang's POV-

Max had fallen asleep some time ago now, and I lay there, my arms still around her and her hand still loosely gripping mine. I started to talk to her, speaking my thoughts out loud. Talking to others had always been hard for me, but I could talk to myself. "I never got to thank you for saving me earlier. I can't say you were very intimidating with that crutch, but after seeing you knock that guy out with one punch, I'll admit I was scared…

"And I'm really glad you came because without you, I think we'd be really lost, or possibly dead or hurt. But I'm also glad you came because I needed you too. I'm glad I've got a friend like you. Well, I suppose it's really more than that, but, you know what I mean, right?

"You know how you asked me what we would do after this? Well, I promise you we'll protect all of them. And, Max, after this, I don't want to lose you. Maybe after this, we can work something out. And if you don't want to do that, then maybe I'll just have to keep us running forever." I laughed at my poor attempt at a joke. "Right, I'm talking to myself. Well, goodnight, Max. I love you."

I closed my eyes and waited for exhaustion to claim me.

Max's hand suddenly squeezed mine. "I love you too, Fang."

And all this time I thought she had been sleeping.

* * *

**So shall we see what happens in the next chapter? We'll get to some more action in the near future, I promise.**


	15. Chapter 15

**The Runaways – Chapter 15**

By MyNameIsCAL

**Just a reminder that this story is rated M. And I'm finally writing a story that'll live up to that M rating. Not sure if you'll all like it, but I thought it be nice to put something like this.  
**

-Max's POV-

Fang was quite embarrassed about the other night, but the fact that I only smiled at him when he tried to explain himself drove him nuts. It put him in a better mood too, which seemed to shock the others. Well, it also let them use it to their advantage.

"Fang, I'm really tired of sleeping in a tent," Angel whined.

Gazzy sort of just stared at Angel. She never talked to Fang directly.

Fang looked up at the sky, the sun setting in the distance. "Alright, there's a motel down the road."

Now it was my turn to stare.

"Well, we're in the middle of freakin' nowhere. Who's going to question me getting a couple of rooms?" Fang replied to my expression.

We filed back into the car, putting out the fire, and sped off down the road.

When we got to the motel, Fang got us two rooms. It was nice to finally be able to shower. Fang left to pick up food and we all gathered in one room to eat together and to discuss what we would do tomorrow.

"We can't stay here," Fang said. "Someone is bound to come along and recognize all of you."

Everyone seemed to be in agreement with that.

"We check out early tomorrow," he continued. "But if anything goes wrong in the night, bang on the door and get ready to get in the car. I left one of the doors opened."

Iggy chewed on his last bit of burger thoughtfully. "What if we can't get in the car?"

"Then run towards town," Fang answered.

* * *

-Fang's POV-

Max sat on my lap. We had attempted to squeeze onto the couch next to Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge, but the table was small and Iggy had the only other chair. Besides, Max on my lap, leaning up against me, that sorta turned me on.

"Alright, one by one, you'll go back to the other room," I told them. "I guess Nudge, you go first."

Iggy snorted. If he wasn't blind, I would have sent him first. Nudge elbowed him in the back of the head as she walked by, opening the door and closing it quickly. A few seconds later, the door opened and closed from the room next door. After a few minutes, Angel went, then Gazzy, and then Iggy. We were alone now, Max still on my lap.

"Well, then," I said, looking around at the empty room. It was small, there were cracks in the ceiling, but it was decent, and it had a bathroom which had hot running water.

I breathed in the smell of soap from Max. Moving her hair aside, I started to kiss her neck, sliding my hand down her arm. She shivered.

Before I knew it, she turned to face me, kissing me, and pushing me up against the back of the couch, her legs around me, arms over my neck. I wasn't thinking anymore, not logically anyway. Now wasn't the greatest time to be letting hormones take over, but hey, I couldn't help myself. Picking her up, I set her down on the bed, and she pulled me down on top of her, undoing my belt.

It wasn't long before we were both undressed. I reached to turn off the light, and we found ourselves tangled up under the blankets. I pressed myself against her, leaning down to kiss her neck again. She tugged at my hair, breathing heavily into my ear. I slipped inside.

"Oh, Fang," she murmured.

I tried to gain some control, tried to tell myself this was wrong, but we had already passed the point of stopping. We were too far gone, too wrapped up, and too driven by our teenage hormones to even think of pulling away, to even think of stopping.

"Mmm," I whispered into her ear. "Max…ah…"

I couldn't get words out, and neither could she, as we tried to keep our noise level down. Things started to speed up, and all control was gone, and Max, softly in my ear, urged me to go on.

"Don't stop," I heard her moan. "Oh, Fang…please…"

Every time she said my name, I thought I was going to lose it. In the dark, I found her eyes, and they met mine. My thrusts became deeper and more rapid. Well, here went nothing. I hoped no one heard what came next.

* * *

-Max's POV-

I was half asleep when I heard banging on the door. Turning to look at Fang, he lay shirtless next to me. Then I realized neither of us was properly dressed.

The banging continued. I realized that something was wrong now.

"Fang!" I hit him in the side of the head.

He sat up. "Oh jeez, Max, I'm sorry about…"

"No, not that!" I shouted. "The door!"

He jumped out of bed, pulling on his pants. I found my own. Shit, where the hell was my shirt.

"Here! Let's go!" Fang threw his shirt at me and I pulled it on, buttoning it as we grabbed our bags and opened the door to find Nudge there.

"Get in the car," Fang said.

Nudge dashed into the door and I followed her. That's when this huge guy came out of the other room. He picked up Fang, as if Fang were feather light, and threw him against the hood of the car.

"Max, start the car!" I heard him shout as the guy picked him up again.

I did as I was told.

"Hey, Max!" Iggy climbed to the passenger seat, swift for not being able to see. "I got an idea. Back the car up."

"What? Are you crazy?" I responded.

He held something in his hand. "No, I'm not crazy actually. Back the car up."

I put the car into reverse, watching Fang's eyes widen. He thought we were driving away. Iggy opened the window.

"I'm gonna count to three, Fang!" he screamed. "And you better find a way to run fast!"

Fang blinked as Iggy started to countdown.

"One!"

The guy threw Fang into another car. Iggy cursed and skipped his counting. "THREE!"

Whatever he was holding, he threw it, and it landed between Fang and the man. Fang rolled off the car, stumbling towards us, his bad leg seemed to be giving him trouble. And then there was an explosion, sending Fang a couple feet forward, only inches from our car.

"Get in!" Nudge squealed, pulling him up.

Fang pulled the door closed, breathless. But it wasn't last night breathless, it was the kinda _holy shit I almost just got blown up by a blind guy_ breathlessness.

* * *

**And I swear to you what happened between Max and Fang that night was, well, how do you put it nicely…I guess **_**safe**_**? Yes, anyway, I'm not going to do the whole thing with them being like "oh crap we didn't use protection" because I already have a story where Max gets pregnant from Fang. (By the way, that's "Lie Tonight" if you wanna check it out). There's no point in having them on top of each other all the time either because honestly, that'll just take away from the story and I just thought it would be interesting to have something go on between them. So let's just assume here that they were being all safe about it, just save me from having to clear that up later or having to explain.**

**Okay, thanks for reading! I'll be gone for about 5 days. Things will start getting updated again around Saturday of next week. I'm tying to update the rest of my stories so you all have things to read when I'm away.  
**


	16. Chapter 16

**The Runaways – Chapter 16**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Fang's POV-

We pulled into a campsite a couple of hours later. I just stayed on the floor in the back of the van, trying to figure out what just happened.

"Why don't you have a shirt on?" Nudge asked, looking down at me.

"I don't know," I grumbled, hoping he wouldn't see I was lying.

Max parked the car and grabbed the bandages which had been rolling around on the floor for the entire car ride.

"Why is Max wearing your shirt?" Nudge asked.

"Not now, Nudge," Iggy said quickly, pulling her out of the car. "There's a vending machine over there. Let's get something to drink."

I made a mental note to thank Iggy later.

"You alright?" I asked Max.

"You're asking me if I'm okay?" she said incredulously. "I'm fine. Now you, you almost just got blown up by Iggy."

Max pulled off my pants suddenly.

"What the hell are you doing?"

She held up my pants. "There's blood. You leg needs to be checked. Besides, you need to redo the bandages."

"Oh." I fell silent again. Last night, I guess we never got around to redoing my bandages like she said I had to.

Pulling out the first aid kit, she cleaned the cut, which was deep. Some debris from the explosion must have jetted out and hit me. Now that I thought about it, it really hurt. After a while, Max taped a gauze over the cut and started to wrap my leg.

"Whoa!" Gazzy came around the car, holding sodas. "Sorry…"

He ducked away just as Max finished with the bandaging.

"How's your leg?" she asked, handing me my pants.

I pulled them on and sat up, leaning against her, suddenly feeling dizzy. "I'm not sure if it hurts from what just happened, or from last night."

She laughed, shaking her head.

"About last night…" I muttered, closing my eyes.

She shook her head. "What's there to discuss?"

"I don't know…I just want to make sure you're okay," I said quietly.

She took my hand, squeezing it. "I'm just fine, Fang. Don't you worry about me."

I let out a sigh of relief.

"In fact," she said in a whisper. "I thought last night was sorta amazing."

I felt myself smiling.

* * *

-Iggy's POV-

"Shit."

I stood and made my way towards the car. "Shit, what?"

Fang swore again. "We left my crutches at the motel."

I sat on the edge of the car. "Care to explain last night?"

He took a seat next to me. "What's there to explain, Ig?"

We sat without talking for a few minutes.

"Well, I don't know, I just want to make sure the two of you are okay," I said.

"Thanks for your concern." Max stood in front of us now.

"Oh, uhm…" I never meant for Max to know that I heard them. Being blind an all, it heightened your other senses.

"Nah, it's alright," she said, walking away, leaving me with Fang again. "And we're great, if that answers your question."

I sat there, thinking for a minute. Since when had Fang swept anyone off their feet? And since when did Fang fall head over heels for anyone? But Max and Fang, they were good for each other. He wasn't so wrapped up in himself anymore.

"Well," I said, trying to think of something else to say. "I'm glad Max came. She's good for you, not because of…well, you know, not because of last night, but…"

Fang cut me off. "I know what you mean, Ig."

"Because she…I don't know, Fang, I can't be the only one who thinks you've changed since you've met Max," I fumbled through my words, trying not to make them sound so awkward.

"What're you trying to say?" he questioned, standing.

"Don't lose her because you decide to do something stupid."

"Like last night?" he sounded amused, not angry like I expected him to be.

"Well, yeah, I guess so," I admitted.

"Alright," he said, limping towards the others. "Thanks, Ig."


	17. Chapter 17

**The Runaways – Chapter 17**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Iggy's POV-

It was late, but Fang and Max sat outside the tent talking into the night. I caught part of the conversation before I drifted off to sleep.

"…and you know, relationships these days, and I've watched Josh's girlfriends come and go, it's all about, well you know, sex. I don't…" Fang fumbled with his words. "I don't want us to be like that. I want us to last."

"I think last night was sort of an impulsive thing," Max told him. "I want us to last too."

They said a few more things, but I couldn't pick up on it. And then, Fang asked. "Exactly how much did you hear that night, when I was talking to myself?"

Max laughed. It was the kind of laughter you had when you knew that the answer wouldn't please the person you were talking to. "Well, all of it, Fang."

There was a moment of silence and then Fang spoke. "All of it?"

"Well, you know, I sort of enjoy listening to you talk," Max replied. It sounded like she was smiling. "Oh, Fang, don't look so embarrassed."

I had to suppress my laughter. I've know Fang for a long time and never once have I heard him be embarrassed.

"Well…" he trailed off.

"C'mon, it's late," Max said, still sounding amused. "Let's get some sleep."

The sound of the sizzling fire being put out told me it was time to sleep too. I listened to their footsteps, Fang's hindered by his pain and Max's hindered because she was probably helping him walk. I closed my eyes, still seeing darkness.

* * *

-Fang's POV-

I woke up too early for anyone else to be awake. For a while, I stared at the ceiling of the minivan, listening to Max's breathing. She rested against me, looking peaceful as she slept. It only seemed like yesterday that Max had found me in the mall, only yesterday that she told me what happened to her brother. If it weren't for Max, I'd probably be dead or trying to forget about what happened to me. Ever since I found Max, thoughts of my mom or my father hadn't really crossed my mind.

My leg ached. What had woken me was a nightmare of what my father had did to me. Max would never know, but I had them a lot. If she knew, she would worry too much. After all that's happened, I probably shouldn't even be alive, or at least, I should have been in a hospital. I should have gone to the authorities so maybe my father could finally be put in his place in jail and my mother put in rehab. By the end of high school, I'd be old enough to look after myself anyway. And yet while none of that happened, things did happen for the better.

As the sunlight became brighter, Max stirred from her sleep, her eyes fluttering open and finding mine right away.

"Morning," I whispered.

She smiled. "Good morning."

I leaned down to kiss her.

"What was that for?" she asked, surprised.

I shrugged and she smiled again, kissing me back.

We lay there for a while, not saying much, the blankets still wrapped around us. Under the blankets, her hand brushed up against mine. Her fingers slid into mine and I felt her squeeze my hand.

"Nothing beats a morning in the Arizona desert," she joked, looking out the window. "The red rocks, it's a shame we'll be leaving them for California."

Her head rested on my shoulder and we stayed like that until we heard the others come out from the tent.

* * *

-Iggy's POV-

Over the next few days, I felt like Max and Fang had gotten closer. It was obvious in the way that they talked to each other. There was a certain softness in his voice as he spoke to her. You could tell he cared about her and she cared about him and that there was nothing that was going to come between the two. Even Nudge noticed.

"The two of them are so sweet," Nudge said as we listened to them talk as Max was driving.

Gazzy sniggered. "Fang being sweet? That sounds like a…"

"Gazzy, shut up," Angel cut him off, but he continued to laugh.

I rolled my eyes. "So where are we now?"

Nudge answered, leaving Gazzy and Angel to their own sibling argument. "We just got out of Arizona."

"Ah, okay," I replied, closing my eyes, wishing I could see the blue sky. Nudge began to ramble, but then I realized she was describing our surroundings. I could almost picture everything, the clouds, the mountains. It was a long time ago when I was able to see, and now, the images of what I remembered became fuzzy, like those memories of sight were fading away as I had gotten comfortable with being blind.

"Could you ever see before?" Nudge asked after a while, her head leaning against me.

"A long time ago," I told her. "Everything I remember seeing seems fuzzy now. Like an old television cutting in and out with a bad signal."

"Can I ask you what happened?"

I had never told anyone before about what happened, not even Fang. He just knew that whatever had happened had been bad. A freak accident, as Fang would have responded for me whenever someone asked.

I rested my arm around her and started, "It must have been fourth grade, I think because I didn't meet Fang until middle school. I was sitting inside my house. Well, it was my old house, and I was watching TV or something, I don't remember. And we lived on a busy street, but I was always careful when I was crossing or when I went to play ball outside. This truck, it just came barreling in through my house. And the truck had an explosion, sending glass everywhere…"

Nudge shook her head. "You don't have to tell me."

I touched the back of my head. "I was lucky I didn't die when a shard of glass embedded itself in the back of my head. They couldn't save my vision, but they saved everything else so I could walk and talk. It was brain damage. The scar is still there."

I realized the whole car was silent now. They were all listening.

"I'm sorry, Ig," Nudge said quietly.

I shook my head. "Maybe it was a story that needed telling anyway."

* * *

**Alright, here's another chapter. Thanks for reading! New chapter should be around sometime after the weekend.**


	18. Chapter 18

**The Runaways – Chapter 18**

By MyNameIsCAL

**Max and Fang's POV for this chapter. I'm trying to only use POVs that are necessary, but I do hope to let you all see things from Gazzy, Angel, and Nudge's POVs in the next few chapters, so I haven't forgotten about them, I just don't want to make it too confusing with all the switching.**

-Max's POV-

We all surrounded the fire. It was late and we had been too tired to set up the tent. Nudge was curled up next to Iggy, his arm around her, hand still in hers as they slept. Gazzy and Angel had fallen asleep a long time ago. For siblings so close in age, they got along well. Ella and I always felt like something separated us. We were more like friends than sisters.

As for Fang, he had his head rested against my leg. I couldn't tell if he was asleep or not, but his eyes were closed. We were taking turns keeping shifts in case a park ranger came around, luckily for us there weren't that many around. After a hile, I pulled out a piece of paper and began my first letter to Ella and Mom since we left.

_Mom and Ella,_

_ It's been a month now. As far as we can tell, the news has been talking about all of us. We got attacked a couple weeks ago. We managed to escape. I don't want to write much, but I promise I'm fine. All of here are all okay, so you tell the cops and the FBI that. I'm sorry things have to be this way. I hope things will work out in the end. _

_ Love, _

_ Max_

"Writing to your Mom?" Fang sat up, stretching his leg.

I nodded, stuffing it back into my bag. Over the past few weeks, we moved palce to place in Death Valley. Once I sent this, it would be time to get out of here, maybe move north. It was hard to believe that a month had already gone by since we had ran away. Sometimes it was hard, but we had each other. I guess we were lucky we all got along so well. Late at night, I'd often lie awake thinking how this had actually sort of worked out, like maybe we were all supposed to meet each other.

Fang stretched his leg. It seemed to be getting better. He was getting more weight on it and I was letting him drive short distances. Not that I didn't think he was capable, but at times, his leg would really bother and distract him.

"Why don't you rest?" he offered.

I shrugged. "I don't mind. You should rest if you're tired."

He handed me the blanket he had been using and I leaned in to kiss him. I smile escaped Fang's lips as I pulled away, tucking the blanket around me as I rested my head against his leg now. It was moments like this that made life as it was now worthwhile.

* * *

-Fang's POV-

The newspaper managed to at least have a small column about what was going on with the investigation of Max and the others running away. Why I never came up was a mystery to me. Either Max's mom had forgotten about me or there was a reason she wasn't telling the investigators about me.

"Max?" I whispered.

She didn't answer, already asleep. Quietly, I reached for her bag and found a notebook. We had gotten rid of our cell phones so the FBI wouldn't be able to find us, but Max had written down important numbers in case we ever did need to call someone. There was a payphone at the small store down the road. Our last day here, I think I was going to call her Mom. I owed her that much to at least call once and thank her. We'd be long gone by the time the FBI ever got out to this payphone.

I memorized the number and put the notebook back in, closing the bag.

As the sun started to rise, I put more wood into the fire, burning yesterday's newspaper. Gazzy was the first one to wake up and he looked up at me and then at Max who was still sleeping against me.

"Morning," I said to him.

"Morning," he said quietly. There was one thing I was sure of though. Gazzy was afraid of me.

"You hungry?" I asked.

He looked surprised that I was talking to him. "Yeah, sorta."

I reached for my bag, pulling out some junk food we had bought yesterday. "Chips aren't much of a breakfast. We'll probably be moving out of here today though. We can stop somewhere later maybe."

He took the bag from me hesitantly. "Ok, thanks."

Max stirred next. She looked up at me and I looked down at her.

"Well, good morning," I said quietly.

"Morning," she smiled, sitting up. Then she looked around, spotting that Gazzy was awake. "Good morning to you too."

Gazzy gave her a small smile. They definitely all liked Max better.

* * *

-Max's POV-

We sat around our little campsite for a while, the radio on the car turned on to the news. Fang was walking around, swearing under his breath as he tried to make his leg be less stiff. Angel took a seat next to me watching Fang.

"Do me a favor?" I asked Angel.

She looked up at me.

"Don't curse like he does."

She cracked a smile. "Of course not."

Fang finally took a seat next to me.

"Exactly what happened to you?" Angel asked.

Fang froze up. His father had done more than beaten Fang up, but none of them knew that. A couple nights ago, Fang had woken up from a nightmare, on the verge of tears. I told him if he ever needed to talk, he could talk to me, but I knew he knew that already, he just didn't want to. Or he wasn't ready to.

"His father beat him up," I answered for Fang.

"Oh, is that all?" Angel said. "Well, Iggy seemed to think there was more to it."

Iggy sat up straight, hearing his name. "Angel…"

"Sorry," Angel muttered. But I got this feeling that she knew there was something that Fang and I weren't telling her.

Fang suddenly stood. "We should get going."

* * *

-Fang's POV-

I held my breath as I walked up to the payphone. This was definitely a bad idea. I punched in the number to Max's mom's house. She probably wouldn't even be home.

"Hello?" I tired voice answered.

"Dr. M?" I asked gruffly.

"Who is this?"

"It's Fang."

"Fang? Is Max with you?"

I let out a sigh. "No, she's in the car. She doesn't know I'm calling you."

"But she's okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine."

"And…And the other kids?"

"They're fine too."

There was a pause. So I continued to talk. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Of course."

"The investigators…You didn't tell them about me?"

"Well…" she took a moment to think. "You know, maybe all of you were right to run away. I told them there was another person with Max too, other than the other kids, but I told them I didn't know your name so they wouldn't go looking for you too. It can't be easy going around when the whole country is looking for you."

"Thank you," I told her.

"How's your knee doing?"

"It's alright. Better now. Max won't let me drive too much."

She let out a laugh, making me feel relieved. I didn't know how she could deal with this.

"Be safe, okay?" she said after a moment. "You should go now. I won't tell them you called."

"Wait, Dr. M?"

"Yes, Fang?"

"I just wanted to say thank you for everything you did for me before, and that I'm…I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. I know Max and I trust her…I…I know that she wouldn't have chosen to go with you unless she was sure she had to."

I didn't know what to say to her after that, but she filled my silence anyway. "And just know, when you come back, there's a place for all of you here."

I closed my eyes, feeling guilty to hear Max's mom be sad like this. "Thank you."

She said goodbye shakily and I put the phone back, feeling guilty. After putting Max's letter into the mailbox outside the store, I went back to the car, putting the food in the back with the others. I sat in the passenger seat and we headed off, heading north towards Yellowstone.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Next chapter will be up during the week.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Runaways – Chapter 19**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Angel's POV-

We rarely got out of the car over the next few days. Fang and Max took turns driving as we headed towards Yellowstone. They were running on fast food and cheap coffee. The more time we all spent cramped together, the more I felt we were all getting, I can't think of the word, I guess depressed, maybe. And Fang seemed to be hiding something that only Max knew about. Late at night, when we finally stopped, pulled over at some rest stop or wherever, you could hear Max trying to comfort him about something, but I couldn't figure out what.

"Hey, turn that up!" Iggy suddenly interrupted.

Fang leaned over, turning the knob for the radio volume.

There was white noise and then a reporter could be heard, "Mr. and Mrs. Griffiths were buried today, after a long month. The local community paid for the funeral and services. Burial was pushed back several days in hopes that their son might be able to return, but after a long debate, it was decided they would be put to rest. The Griffiths' son, James, is still missing along with the daughter of the local vet, Max, and three other children including the son and daughter of the murderers. Authorities recently discovered that the two children were going to be sold for money. The Griffiths' funeral was attended by many in the town, including many students from the local high school, Max's mother, Dr. Martinez, and other people who feel strongly that human trafficking and drug dealing through the border is becoming a large problem…"

Fang shut it off.

"Hey!" Iggy protested.

But Fang turned to face us. "We don't need to hear any of that."

"I should have been there," Iggy muttered. "What's a funeral without any family there?"

"Iggy," Fang let out a sigh. "I'm sorry."

Iggy grumbled something and leaned against the window. I watched as Nudge slipped her hand into his, squeezing it.

"Ig, I wish we could have been there too," Gazzy said quietly.

"I don't want your sympathy," Iggy suddenly snarled.

Gazzy looked hurt. He really looked up to Iggy and now that it was because of our parents that Iggy's parents were dead, Gazzy just felt lost. Iggy hadn't said much to us ever since we got on the road. He just needed space, but Gazzy was convinced Iggy was blaming him.

And then, Iggy lowered his voice, speaking again, "It's my fault they're dead."

"No," Gazzy stated, his voice firm. "They're dead because of me. If you hadn't helped us…."

But Iggy waved his hand in the air, dismissing what Gazzy was trying to say. "It's not your fault, Gaz. I wouldn't have let you get taken anyway."

Gazzy blinked a few times. "Even if you knew letting us get taken saved your parents?"

But like I said, Iggy was never mad at Gazzy or me. He was just angry at himself. "Yes, even if I had to watch my parents get killed to save you."

My brother stared at Iggy as silence filled the car. That was exactly what Gazzy needed to hear.

* * *

-Nudge's POV-

Iggy wasn't really up for talking. Ever since he heard the news, he had fallen silent. Still, he had his arm around me, his long fingers entwined with mine. I watched the darkness go by. You couldn't see anything but the road signs as Fang drove now, sipping his coffee every now and then. Angel and Gazzy were asleep in the back already.

"Give them a blanket," Iggy had said quietly. "They think I'm mad at them because it was their parents that killed mine, but they had nothing to do with it. I'd be stupid to be mad at them."

I picked up the blanket and draped it around them. When I turned back to Iggy, he had picked the other blanket off the floor.

"Here, you should sleep," he insisted, holding out the blanket to me. "I mean, you said it's dark. There's nothing to see."

I took the blanket and pulled it around us, resting against him. Under the blanket, his arms came around me.

"Goodnight," he whispered.

"Goodnight, Ig."

It was hard sleeping in the car though, so I found myself awake a few hours later. We had finally stopped driving. Max and Fang sat on the hood of the car. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but he sounded upset.

"Ig," I nudged him. "Ig, hey, wake up."

He stirred, mumbling, and then he realized it was me. "What's wrong?"

I pointed to the front of the car, and then felt stupid for forgetting he couldn't see, but he cocked his ear towards that direction anyway, still understanding. Looking towards the back, I realized Angel and Gazzy were awake too.

"Is…Is he crying?" Gazzy asked, sounding doubtful.

Iggy nodded.

I watched as Max pulled Fang into a hug and he shook against her.

"What're they saying?"

Iggy shook his head. "Go back to sleep."

* * *

**Perhaps it's time for Fang to come clean about what really happened to him. Guess we'll see in the next chapter! Now that they've adjusted to being on the move, they've got more time to think. And I'm sure you know that sometimes thinking isn't a good thing at all.**

**Thanks for reading! New chapter heading your way soon!**


	20. Chapter 20

**The Runaways – Chapter 20**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

We had finally found a camping site to spend the night at. It was late now, the fire almost burnt out. Fang and I were supposed to be taking turns keeping watch, but the place was deserted and on my watch, I found myself dozing off every now and then.

I must have fallen asleep though, after dozing one too many times.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

I bolted up into sitting position.

"Hey, I'm sorry," Iggy was being pinned to the ground by Fang. "I…You were talking in your sleep. I mean, you sounded like you were in pain. I wasn't just going to let you go on."

Fang released Iggy.

"Fang, are you okay?" I asked.

His eyes met mine, softening. "Iggy just scared me…I…I thought he was my father."

"I'm sorry," Iggy repeated.

Fang shook his head. "I didn't mean to attack you."

"Nah, it's alright, I'm fine," Iggy insisted.

But Fang still seemed shaken, even as he laid back down, pulling the blanket over him.

"Exactly what did your father do to you?" Iggy questioned.

Fang turned away from him. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Well, something's bothering you. And I know he did more than just beat you up, Fang," Iggy went on.

"I don't want to talk about it," Fang's voice cracked.

Iggy let out a sigh, heading back to the tent.

"I need to tell Iggy," Fang muttered, closing his eyes. "He knows something is up with me anyway."

"You tell him when you're ready," I told him.

But Fang shook his head. "I'll lose Iggy's trust if I don't tell him soon."

* * *

-Fang's POV-

We were off in the car again, Max driving. Every now and then she'd give me this sideway glance. She was worried about me. And it was obvious now that I wasn't getting sleep anymore, it was obvious that I something was wrong. Max and I exchanged few words as we drove the last stretch to Yellowstone. The rest of the car had fallen silent too.

After finding a less crowded and farther away place, we set up camp. I managed to get Iggy alone as we unpacked the trunk.

"I need to talk to you later," I said. "When the others are asleep."

"Alright," he agreed.

The next few hours passed slowly. We ate some food and the others retreated to the tent, ready to sleep. Iggy sat on the other side of the fire and Max kept up a quiet conversation with him as I paced back and forth. Finally, Iggy grew impatient, just like I knew he would.

"So what do you need to talk about?" he frowned. "Because I've got some things to talk to you about too."

I sat down next to Iggy, trying to think how you explain to someone that your father didn't just throw a few punches at you, that he really fucked you up for real. The courage I had mustered before was now gone, so instead, I let Iggy go first. "Then what is it that you have to say, Ig?"

"Well," he seemed to have lost his own words too. "We know something is wrong, Fang. And we can tell it's keeping you up at night. We're not stupid, Fang. But I don't want it to get in the way. I mean, we're depending on you to get us away from danger, to keep us alive, and if you're distracted, we need to know why. We want to help you, but we also can't be in a situation where whatever's bothering you puts our lives in danger."

Well, that seemed reasonable. If Max weren't here, I'm pretty sure we'd all be pretty screwed. I opened my mouth a few times, and after some more hesitation, I finally spoke. "Remember last night when you woke me from my nightmare?"

"Yeah, I remember," Iggy nodded. "You almost killed me too, saying something about thinking that I was your father."

"You really want to know what he did to me?" I asked in a low voice.

It was Iggy's turn to take a moment to think. "Are you saying he did more than beat you up?"

"Yeah," I muttered, keeping my eyes on the ground.

"So then what?" Iggy prompted.

But the words, they wouldn't come out, and I stuttered for a minute, my throat choking up. Max moved towards me.

"You don't have to tell me, Fang," Iggy said quietly. "I just…I want to know that you're okay."

"Hey, Fang, breathe," Max took my hand.

I leaned against her, closing my eyes, tears still finding their way to flow out. Breaking down like this in front of Iggy was definitely a sign that I wasn't okay.

"My father beat me up," I sobbed. "And…And he drugged me. I couldn't fight him, Ig. And…and then…"

"Shhh, Fang, it's okay," Max whispered in my ear.

"And then he raped me."

* * *

-Max's POV-

"Oh, jeez, Fang, man, I'm sorry…I…" But Iggy fell silent, unsure of what he was really trying to say as Fang cried.

We sat there for the longest time, the only sound came from Fang. He had tired himself out now, his breathing slowed, now asleep.

"Why didn't he say anything before?" Iggy asked after a while.

I pulled a blanket over Fang. "I don't know. It's only bothering him now because he's had more time to think about it."

Iggy shook his head. "I tried so hard to think about what could be bothering him so much, and every time I thought back to how he told me his father had beaten him and how he never explained it like he usually explained things. But I never thought anything would be that bad…that never crossed my mind."

"You can't tell the others," I told Iggy. "Fang only wanted to tell you because he was afraid you would stop trusting him."

"Because I was concerned about what was going on with him," Iggy seemed to understand. "No, I wouldn't even think about telling them."

I let out a sigh.

"Things like that shouldn't happen." Iggy's eyes seemed to find me. Sometimes it was hard to believe he was blind at all.

"The situation we're in never should have happened either," I responded. "But considering everything that's happened, we've tried to make the best of it."

Iggy's eyes became unfocused again as he turned his head away. "I'm glad you found him and helped him, Max."

I looked up at the sky, the stars visible out here in the wilderness. After a while, I looked back down at Fang. "Yeah, me too."

* * *

**Alright, thanks for reading this chapter. New chapter after the weekend probably. I'm going to put up one of my new stories that I've been working on, based on poll results. So whatever story I put up, that idea will be deleted from the poll, but I'll keep the poll opened to figure out the second story I'll put up later. **

**I've actually got like four different new stories I've written the first few chapters for, so once I figure out what direction my current stories are heading in, I'll put those out too. So don't be disappointed if a story on the poll isn't put out because I'm working on all of those ideas there. **

**Anyway, enough rambling. I should probably have rambled about the poll on a story that's ending soon, but I don't think I'll get the chance to update anything tomorrow and I'm sure there are a few of you out there that would be interested to hear that.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	21. Chapter 21

**The Runaways – Chapter 21**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Iggy's POV-

Fang seemed quiet now. Like I had promised Max, I wouldn't tell them what had been discussed. They didn't need to know anyway. Fang had been afraid to lose my trust and I didn't want to lose his now.

We were in a pretty secluded area. Fang had stopped at multiple places, trying to make the food his was buying not seem like a lot. I wondered how much money he had left, but then it crossed my mind that it was drug money, and I knew asking wasn't a good idea. He had enough to get us a minivan, enough to keep us alive for the past month and a half now. I'm sure if he was running out of cash, he would at least tell Max and me.

But Nudge, well, she always had something to say, and she wasn't afraid to say things, or maybe rather, she didn't really think before she opened her mouth. As we sat at dinner last night, each of us with our own hotdog, she asked, "Aren't we going to run out of money soon?"

I heard nothing and then Fang answered. "No, we have enough."

"Exactly how much do you have?"

"Enough to get us by." Fang gave a short answer. He sounded more tired than annoyed, which in a way, I was thankful for.

"Where…"

I cut her off. "That's enough, Nudge."

She pushed on with another question instead, one that seemed more reasonable to ask. "How long are we staying here?"

"As long as we can." And with that, Fang stood and left us. I heard another set of footsteps go after him, probably Max.

"What's his problem?" Nudge muttered.

"Just leave him alone, Nudge," I said. "He's suffering more than we are."

"No he's not."

And to my surprise, it was Gazzy who spoke up. "You don't have proof that he isn't."

"But you don't have proof that he is," Nudge retorted.

"And if I do?" I interjected.

Nudge finally had to think about what she was going to say. "Then why didn't you tell us?"

"Because it's not for any of you to know," I frowned. "Alright, just leave him alone. He'll tell you eventually, but when he wants to, okay?"

"Alright." Nudge wasn't satisfied with that answer, but Gazzy gave me a more reassuring, "of course," before we went back to eating.

* * *

-Fang's POV-

I didn't understand why things were bothering me now about what my father had done to me. After it had happened, I probably should have gotten help. That kind of stuff, it can mess you up forever, I mean, look what happened to my mom. I couldn't save her, so what did that say about me? I couldn't save myself either, so what made me think I could save the rest of them?

I sat away from all of them now, Iggy talked to them quietly, and I got the feeling they were talking about me. Just outside the ring of light from the fire, I sat down, leaning against a rock. Max took a seat next to me, her hand slipped into mine, head against my shoulder. She was trying to get me to relax.

"There's something wrong with me," I said to her.

"There's nothing wrong with you, Fang," she said.

I moved away from Max, standing and making my way to the car. With a swift movement, I slapped the door and wrapped myself in the blankets, trying to fight my tears. Outside I could hear the others, finishing up their dinner. The door to the car opened shortly after, Max coming in.

"Fang…" She closed the door and then lay next to me.

I turned to face her slowly, still trying to hold back tears, but the dam was breaking. "There are thousands…millions…of other guys out there. Why choose me, Max?"

She rested her hand on my cheek, fingertips in my hair. "You know the answer to that already, Fang. Why are you questioning yourself?"

I closed my eyes, tears streaming out. "Because I don't deserve you. I don't deserve to be alive. I shouldn't be leading all of you around, like…like…like I know what I'm doing because I d..d…don't."

"Iggy and the others," Max began. "They wouldn't be alive without you."

"But you'd be better off…"

"Fang…"

"No, you don't get it Max!" I wanted to push her away. "I'm just as bad as my father was. I stole drugs from my mom, I sold them only for her to go buy more, only for those drugs I sold to be given to more people like her! I can't be a solution to anything…I'm going to end up…"

"Don't say that," Max didn't let me finish. "I wouldn't be better off without you."

I laughed in her face, tears still pouring out. "Because being here with me and four other people you only met a month and a half ago is just where you want to be. I almost got you killed."

She shook her head. "I don't care, Fang."

"I'm just going to end up hurting you."

"I know you don't believe that."

"What if I do?" I turned away from her.

Max let out a sigh. Time seemed to go by for a while until she spoke again. "I want you to know something. Actually, I need you to know something."

I shut my eyes.

"No matter what happens," Max rested her hand on my arm. "I need you to know that I'll always be there for you. It doesn't matter to me what you've done. What matters is that you're here now with me, that you are helping us, even if you don't think you are. What matters is that you're alive now. You haven't given up yet, despite what your father's done to you…"

As unclear as my head was, I could tell she meant what she was saying.

"You're just going through a rough time," Max continued. "But things will get better, I promise. We're going to get through this, together…"

I felt like my tears were endless.

"But what I really need to tell you is that I don't regret any of this because I love you, Fang."

It wasn't until then that I realized that it was all in my head, that I was trying to blame myself for something that wasn't even my fault. I turned back to Max, pulling her against me. Through my tears, I managed to reply.

"I…I love you too, Max."

* * *

**We'll get to some action real soon, I promise. Hopefully Max was able to get to Fang and he'll start to move forward again instead of putting himself down for the things he could not control that happened to him. And you know, I talk like I don't know what's going to happen even though I do know. Heh, yeah, I'm crazy!**

**Alright, enough rambling from me. Like I said, we'll get to some action in the next couple of chapters. I know it just seems like they're moving from place to place, trying to hide, but they'll face the enemy eventually. Don't worry, I've got plans (I think).**

**Thanks for reading!**


	22. Chapter 22

**The Runaways – Chapter 22**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

Fang still had his arms around me when I woke up. He was awake though, his hand finding a way into mine as I turned to face him.

"Are you okay?" I asked him softly.

He gave me a shaky smile. "Yeah, I'll be alright."

We didn't talk as we got the car in order, putting the seats back into their positions and folding the blankets. Somehow Iggy had a fire going already, sitting there with Gazzy, talking quietly.

"Morning, Max," Iggy said, yawning. "Hey, Fang."

"Morning, Ig," Fang responded as he sat down.

I was about to pull out some food when I heard a car coming. Iggy had been the first to hear it, sitting up straight. A car pulled up right next to ours, one that read _Park Ranger_.

"Shit," Fang said under his breath. "All of you, get in the tent."

The door of the ranger's car opened, a woman stepping out in khaki attire. I scrambled into the tent, listening to the conversation.

"Well, good morning," a woman said. "We don't get too many campers out here, so I thought I'd stop by to say hello."

"Well, we were looking for a less crowded place," Fang told her.

"That's understandable," she replied. "Now, I'm required to check. Do you have your camping permit with you? You should have filled one out when entering the park."

But Fang found a lie quickly to make. "You know, actually, my parents just went to get something and they took it with them. I'm not sure when they'll be back."

"Ah, I see." I couldn't tell if she believed him or not. "Well, I'll be back in an hour or so."

"Of course, no problem," Fang said. "Have a good day."

"You too."

I heard the door slam and the car pull away. Iggy unzipped the tent, letting us out.

"We need to go," Fang said. "Now."

In a mad dash, we packed the tent. Fang directed me in the opposite direction the ranger had been driving. He was hoping she hadn't read our license plate number.

I had no idea where we were going though. Every turn we took seemed to get narrower. It was bumpy now too, looking like no one had driven here in years.

"Fang, there's a car behind us," Iggy said.

Fang turned and I looked in the rearview mirror. It was the ranger car again.

"Keep driving," Fang muttered, fumbling to get the map out. "If we have deal with her, we got lost, okay?"

"I don't think that's gonna work," Iggy muttered. "The way that car is running behind us, they're more likely trying to run us off the road or something."

I pulled over and the ranger car came to a skidding halt a few feet in front of us. The door opened and a man stepped out, two more hopping out of the back seat, all of them dressed the same. There was a woman too. I rolled down the window.

"I think we're lost," I said, trying to stick to Fang's plan, praying it might work.

"No, you're not lost," the man scoffed. "You need to come with us. All of you."

"And what authority do you have over us?" I asked. "We can't just leave our car here."

"We've contacted the police. You've violated several codes of conduct here," the man frowned.

"Well we won't come with you until the police come here," I told him.

"Then we'll take you by force." The man stuck his hand in the car, unlocking the doors, pulling me out.

* * *

-Gazzy's POV-

They threw Max onto the ground. Fang looked like it had hurt him more than it had hurt Max. He tore out of his side of the car. I opened my door, scrambling out past Iggy and Nudge.

"Gazzy, no!" Fang shouted.

One of the men grabbed me, but I kicked my foot back, hitting him between the legs. He let out a groan of pain, falling to his knees. Fang was struggling with one of the other men, trying to get to Max who was being thrown around. But I had to admit, she was a fighter too. As soon as she hit the ground, she was back up again, throwing punches.

There were more of us than there were of them, but they had more muscle, heavy and full of rage.

"There's another car coming!" Iggy shouted. "I can hear it!"

I was back to back with him and Nudge now, Angel between all of us. Men were surrounding all of us. They stared at us and we stared back at them, breathing heavily. Max and Fang were now fighting the same guy now, their motions almost looked timed, like their relationship had somehow became part of their fighting.

"You can't run from us." It was the woman, pushing her way through the five new men that had just arrived. "We will get you and take you, like you never existed. You've caused us enough trouble already. Let us put you out of your misery."

Max suddenly landed in front of us, blood spewing from her nose. But I didn't dare look down at her. Any break in our concentration was sure to be the end of us. Angel whimpered behind me as the woman pulled out a shotgun.

"In my bag," Iggy said under his breath, "there's a mini bomb I made, sorta like a grenade. Angel, we'll distract them, but you need to get it and set it off."

I felt her nod.

Before the woman could hit any of us, we broke our formation, charging at each of the men, Max grabbing the woman by the feet and they started to fight over the gun.

"RUN!" Angel screamed.

We all hit the ground, the men unaware of what was going on. Angel threw something that looked small, but the explosion was deafening.

* * *

-Fang's POV-

When the dust cleared, the only person who was left standing was the woman. She still had the shotgun, Max unconscious on the ground, knocked out by the explosion, the others still on the ground looking dazed. I ended up face to face with the gun as the woman spotted me.

"Goodbye," she hissed.

I grabbed her by the wrist, the gun going off.

"FANG!"

But the woman dropped to the floor. I hadn't done anything. She shot herself. Feeling lightheaded, I fell to the ground, the world spinning around me.

"FANG!" It had been Iggy that was shouting. Poor guy couldn't see anything, but I had to say that he put up one hell of a fight. It was the second time now that he had saved our lives.

"I'm…I'm okay," I said. "She shot herself."

I blinked a few times and things returned to normal. If someone had walked upon us now, they might think that I had killed all the motionless bodies around us, but they were only knocked out. I didn't think I could live with myself if I killed anyone.

"Get…get in the car." I stood, my bad leg shaking. It took me a while to get a grip on Max. With Gazzy's help, I got her into the car.

"Let's get out of here," I muttered, climbing into the driver's seat. "We need to find somewhere better to hide."

An hour later, we found the highway. Max came to, hand on her head, dry blood all over the front of her. I pulled over on the shoulder, turning off the ignition.

"How're you feeling?" I asked her.

She picked her head up off the chair, closing her eyes. "My head hurts, but I think I'm okay."

"We'll find a place soon to clean you up, okay?" I assured her.

Max nodded. "Is everyone else okay?"

"Better now that we know you're okay," Iggy tried to joke and Max let a weary smile slip from her lips.

We were all beaten and bruised up. Nudge was asleep, Iggy's arm around her. Angel was leaning against the window, staring out while her brother took up the rest of the seat all the way in the back, sleeping. I felt tired too and now that I thought about it, I really had no clue where I was going. For the past half hour I had started to follow the signs to California.

Max seemed to sense my feeling of being lost. "So where are we going?"

"I…I don't know," I told her.

She looked at the road, cars passing us almost lazily. There weren't too many out here. I think we were in Idaho now, or something like that.

"Well, maybe we should find a motel," she said, examining herself in the mirror.

I started the car and we headed off, dark clouds starting to hide the sun as we sped down the interstate.

* * *

**So some action there. Probably more coming. New chapter should be up around the weekend, give or take a day or so.**

**I've got two new stories up: **_**Meant to Be**_** and **_**I Love You, Maybe**_** so check them out if you have the chance. Thanks for reading!**


	23. Chapter 23

**The Runaways – Chapter 23**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Fang's POV-

I found a place that looked like it had business, but a place that also didn't seem too crowded with people. The guy at the front desk seemed bored, giving me a room key without even glancing up at me, his eyes glued to a small TV that was playing some sports game. I made up a name and trudged back to the van. I got in, parking it in front of our room. Max pulled my jacket on around her, covering the bloodstains. After watching the occupant in the next room go in and lock their door, we filed out quickly into our own.

We got ourselves cleaned up, Max getting the bathroom first. For a motel, it was pretty clean. I guess we were lucky. I took a shower last, realizing how good it felt to be clean for once. After that, we washed our clothes, hanging them on the side of the tub to dry.

"I'm gonna have to get rid of these," Max sighed, holding up the clothes she had been wearing before. "I'm surprised all of your clothes stayed intact even with the explosion."

Max was wearing one of my shirts now. This was her second pair of clothes that she had lost. The first time being at the other motel where we had been attacked.

"We'll have to find a place to grab some new ones," I tried to sound reassuring. "You'll just have to make do with that."

She shrugged, taking a seat next to me on the bed. Angel was asleep on the other bed, Gazzy next to her staring up at the ceiling. Iggy settled on the couch, Nudge somehow squeezing onto it with him. We hadn't eaten dinner, but all of us looked like we were ready to pass out. Max checked the door and turned off the light, curling up next to me.

"Try not to think about too much," she whispered to me. "Goodnight, Fang."

"Night, Max."

She reached over, putting my arm around her.

"I mean it, Fang," she added.

I found her hand and squeezed it. "I know."

Of course as everyone started to drift off to sleep, I started to think. Had my Mom even cared that I just left? Was my father still there? Did either of them know that I was the indentified person running with the lost kids? Or they probably didn't care. I mean, how could you care after you rape your own son, one you hadn't even seen in years? How could you care if you let the same man repeatedly hurt you and leave time and time again?

I shut my eyes, trying to forget, but it was too late. As sleep took over, my thoughts took over my dreams, and I was in my old room again, my father behind me as I felt as if I were watching everything happen to me, under the influence of drugs, unable to fight back. And then the nightmare seemed to start over agin…

"Fang!" Someone was shaking me. "Fang…"

I opened my eyes, sucking in a deep breath. No one else seemed to be awake but her.

Max let out a sigh, turning towards me. "Same nightmare?"

I nodded.

"You were digging your fingers into my hand."

"Sorry…"

She shook her head. "I guess the not thinking thing didn't work out."

"No, I guess not."

"Well, you'll find a way not to think about it," she said. "I remember when Ari was little, well, he was always little, but he used to have nightmares about Jeb. He would sneak out of his room and come to my room and snuggle into my bed. I used to make up stories to tell him until he fell asleep. It was knights and princesses one night, then cowboys and bank robbers. I think aliens even once. But his favorite story, and my favorite story, was always the one about me and him and Ella and we had wings and we would fly away from Jeb who ended up being an evil scientist."

"I…I always wished I could fly." I felt myself relax.

"Yeah, me too," she sounded like she was smiling. "Just…how amazing would it be to see everything for miles, and above everyone else?"

"I bet it'd be really amazing," I said. "We'd never have to worry about people getting to us. Just, you know…"

"Fly when we gotta run," she finished for me.

"Yeah…" I breathed out.

"You gotta sleep, Fang."

"I know…"

She rested up against me. "Just think about flying. That'll be a nice dream."

I closed my eyes and she kissed me.

"Night, Fang."

"Night, Max."

* * *

-Angel's POV-

Max shook me awake. I felt like I had just gone to sleep.

"Why are we up so early?" Gazzy complained, rubbing his eyes.

"The police are here," Max whispered. "Someone got broke in to one of the rooms. We gotta get out of here."

Iggy and Nudge were already awake, standing by the door, the bags we had brought with our clothes at their feet. Fang was still on his bed asleep. Max went to him next, gently shaking him.

"Fang, we gotta go."

He muttered something I couldn't understand.

"Fang, c'mon."

He sat up, realizing that he hadn't planned to leave so soon. "What's wrong?"

"Cops are here," Iggy spoke up. "Someone broke into one of the rooms."

"We gotta get out of here," Max said.

He sat up and Max helped him off the bed, his arm resting around her shoulders as he stiffly made his way to the door. Max opened it and looked both ways. We moved slowly to the car, our eyes fixed on the cops who stood in a circle across the lot. Fang slid into the driver's seat, starting the car and driving past them slowly. They barely glanced at us as we went by. After we made it a few miles from the motel, Fang pulled over and Max switched with him.

"Where to now?" she asked him.

He slouched against the door. "Head to Los Angeles. Maybe it'll be easier to go somewhere with more people."

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Next chapter should be up shortly. **


	24. Chapter 24

**The Runaways – Chapter 24**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Nudge's POV-

I've never been to the city before. Although, we were in the car, driving through it. Well, okay, stuck in traffic. But still, it was an experience for me.

"I don't like cities," Iggy grumbled. "They're loud and obnoxious and filled with people who are even more loud and obnoxious."

"But I heard they have good food," I replied.

"Well, I guess that's true. But I can make you better food." He let out a sigh. "We can't exactly walk around the city, so what's the point of going to Los Angeles?"

Fang let out an exasperated sigh. "I don't know, Ig. Just to try to change things up. We'll probably just pass through or something, head somewhere else like San Francisco and then maybe we'll head up towards Washington."

"There's nothing in Washington except rain," Gazzy commented.

"That's exactly why we'd go there," Max finished.

"Right," Gazzy shook his head. "Why didn't we just stay in Idaho?"

Fang let out another breath, not answering this time. He turned up the radio, letting the reporter's voice fill the car. Police had found the fake park rangers, taking them in for questioning. According to the FBI, they had connections with Gazzy and Angel's parents, who were still sending threats to the FBI every day. It had been a while since we listened to the news, but it sounded like not much had changed.

"We can't run forever," I whispered to Iggy.

He frowned. "No, we can't. We're not bullet proof either, but we'll run until we can find a way to get help."

"Why haven't we just gone to the FBI already?"

"Because unlike us, Max still has family. And Gazzy and Angel's parents threatened to go after them if we seek help," Iggy said quietly.

"They're not my parents anymore," Gazzy grunted from behind us.

Iggy sighed. "And we at least owe her to try to keep her family out of harm's way."

"Oh, of course." Well, there was no arguing that. Max didn't even have to be here with us. And then another thought hit me. "When this is over, if the FBI can really save us, then what will happen to us? They'll shove us into foster homes…we don't have family."

He put his arm around me, a troubled look on his face. "We'll find a way to stick together, I promise."

* * *

-Gazzy's POV-

I always felt like Angel had been stronger than me, smarter too. Not that I'd ever admit that, well, I probably would, eventually. We were lucky that we weren't the kind of siblings that hated each other's guts.

It was hard to believe that we were in Los Angeles, the guy who I had pegged as a creep helping us, and I had finally come to the realization that he was just as human as any of were. What happened with my parents, and to Iggy's parents, and Nudge was tied to us somehow, I couldn't figure out what compelled him to help us. I knew Max was here for him, but I also knew she cared about us too, not just about him. The way she talked to us, the way she treated us, it almost made me wish she had been my mom, well, okay, she's not that old, but she can keep us in line.

This seemed like the worst situation anyone could be in. I mean, our parents wanted to sell us, they killed my best friend's parents, and now they were going to kill anyone who got in the way of them getting my sister and me. That was cruel. It made the world seem cruel, but as young as Angel was, she told me that there were worst things. We could be dead. And if she was going to be strong about this, as her big brother, I had to be too.

"What if I hadn't ever believed you?" I asked her.

Angel just shrugged. "Well, then, I wouldn't have known what to do. Maybe I would have begged Iggy to believe me. Or I could have given up."

"I'm sorry I doubted you."

She frowned. "You believed me eventually. What's to be sorry about?"

"I don't know."

Angel closed her eyes, leaning against me. "Either way, we would have gone together."

Well, she couldn't be certain about that, but I closed my eyes too, hoping we'd find a place to stop to stretch.

* * *

-Max's POV-

We found some abandoned parking garage inside the city. Fang drove to the top and now I sat on the hood of the car with him, watching traffic go by on the interstate. The others were sitting around, taking in our opportunity to be outside, even if city air wasn't the cleanest.

"I actually really hate the city," Fang commented, leaning back.

"Why's that?" I asked, falling into place next to him.

He gave me this half smile, explaining. "I've always felt like I was running out of time because of all the terrible things I've done. The city, well, we lived pretty closed to it back in Arizona, and it gives that kind of feeling of living fast and forgetting life. I never really had the chance to grow up as I pleased, I just had to because I had to cope with my mother's lifestyle."

Fang let out a breath, staring up at the sky, and I looked up too, the stars gone behind the smog of the city. In a way, it was depressing, but it reminded me of home, where the nights were hit or miss about seeing much of anything. Travel farther from the city, and you might be able to see a stretch of the Milky Way.

"I'll tell you what," Fang said, taking my hand. "If we're still together in ten years, or when we're old enough to get married, if we're ready, we gotta away from all of this and find somewhere peaceful so I can forget about all the bad things I've been through."

"That sounds like a plan," I said, smiling.

He gave me an amused look, pulling me closer. "I'm really no good for you, Max."

"No, you're the best thing that's came along since my mom divorced Jeb."

Fang let out a laugh, leaning down towards me. "Of course."

And then he kissed me, deep and slow, the noise fading away, like we had somehow managed to find peace in this city of noise.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! New chapter will be up around next week most likely. I've got a lot going on. If you're interested in knowing when a new chapter is going to come around, check out my tumblr fanfiction website on my profile!**


	25. Chapter 25

**The Runaways – Chapter 25**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Iggy's POV-

I was leaning up against a wall in the parking garage. There was cool breeze and Nudge leaned against me, wrapping a blanket around us. She had been pretty quiet since we got out of the car.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked her, squeezing her shoulder.

"How…how are you not scared by any of this?"

"You think I'd be scared because I'm blind?"

"Well…I would be," she replied meekly. "And you just trust us…No offense to Fang, but you must know that people think he's scary…"

I smiled a little. "Everyone pities the blind guy, but Fang was the only one who bothered to talk to me like I was a person. Besides, there's no point in spending my whole life in fear. It's just not worth it. Sometimes it's about taking chances."

"How'd you get to know Gazzy and Angel?"

"We moved shortly after I got hurt. Angel was just a baby and Gazzy felt a little left out, but my parents were all about getting to know all the neighbors, so I hung out with him. He's like my kid brother, you know?"

But I knew she still had one last question.

"What about me? Why'd you trust me?"

"I don't know, I just had a feeling I could."

And then I felt Nudge press her lips against mine. I put my arms around her, leaning in. We broke apart a minute later.

"Well, then," I said, smiling.

Nudge squeezed my hand. "I'm glad you trusted me."

"Me too."

* * *

-Fang's POV-

"FANG!"

I turned to see Iggy and Nudge running towards me. Max let go of my hand and we slid off the hood of the car.

"What's wrong, Ig?" I asked, grabbing him by the arm to warn him that going any further would result in injury.

"A cop car. I know how those things run from a mile away. Nudge even saw it pull into the entrance of the garage."

I looked around. There was an engine whirring, getting closer.

"Alright, there's a wall over there by the entrance to the stairs. All of you, go hide," I told them. "Max, I'll figure out a way to get them to go, but if we get separated, I want you to head towards San Francisco. The keep going til you get to Washington."

"No, Fang, we're not…"

"Max, we don't have time, go!"

She grabbed Gazzy and Angel's hands, Nudge and Iggy following her closely behind. I got into the driver seat, pushing it back so it would look like I was sleeping. For a minute, I closed my eyes, listening to the cop car pull up behind me. The door opened and closed.

"Step out of the vehicle!" I heard a man shout. "Throw your keys on the ground and put your hands on your head!"

I let out a breath and did as I was told.

"Get down on your knees!"

My knee buckled as I started to go down.

The cop took a few steps towards me, gun pointed at me.

"Show me your license!"

I pulled out my wallet and tossed it across the concrete.

The cop frowned, lowering his gun.

"What the hell are you doing up here?" he questioned.

"My…my parents were fighting and I had to get away, somewhere quiet, but you know, this is the fucking city." Lying, something I picked up on from being around Josh.

"You can stand up." The cop said, holding out my wallet. "But I'm going to need you to come with me. There's been suspicious activity up here and I'm required to take anyone we find here to the station."

"But my car…"

"I'll bring you back to get it after we clear things up."

"I…My parents…I really gotta get home soon. I'll leave right now, you can watch me go."

The cop let out a heavy sigh. "Okay, let's go. Follow me out."

"Thank you."

And that was when these two black cars pulled up. The cop turned, pulling his gun out. I ducked down, hearing the cop start to talk. And then there was shouting. They were arguing. Then there was a series of gunshots. I saw the cop drop to the ground.

"Aw, shit we weren't supposed to kill him!" I heard a deep voice say. "We gotta get out of here, pick a new location! They're onto us!"

"We can't just leave the body here!" Another voice, more panicked.

"Then stuff him in his trunk and we'll drive the car to our place."

There was a screeching of tires and when I peeked around the car, seeing that the only thing left was a pool of blood on the concrete. My legs were shaking as I started towards the stairs.

"Max…" I started to run. "Max!"

* * *

-Nudge's POV-

We watched Fang throw his arms around Max, pulling her into an embrace, most of his weight on her.

"Max, I'm okay." Fang's voice shook a little.

"I don't think I have ever heard him scared like that," Iggy whispered.

"We…we gotta get out of here," Fang said, pulling away from Max now.

He stumbled back and she grabbed him by the arm. There was a puddle of blood a few yards from the van. We stepped around it and Max floored the gas. It wasn't long until we were out of the garage, letting the nightlife of LA pass us as we headed back to the freeway.


	26. Chapter 26

**The Runaways – Chapter 26**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

There was something eerie about what had happened. Fang still seemed shaken, and honestly, I was too and I hadn't seen anything really. Not that we were slapping high fives or feeling relieved, but whoever those guys were, drug lords, gangsters, serial killers, they had saved us from getting separated. Fang would have had to driven around before he could return to get us. That kind of anxiety wasn't what we needed, but I can't say this feeling wasn't any better.

"They…they just took him in his own cop car," Fang said, trying to massage his knee. "He was innocent."

"I know, Fang," I murmured. "But there wasn't anything you could do."

"I could have been killed too!"

"But you weren't."

"I know."

Fang shut his eyes.

We were parked in a rest area now, blending in among the other cars.

"Is your leg okay?" It was a question to distract him. There was no need to dwell on the things we had no control over.

"Just a little pain." I got the feeling it was more than that.

"Relax, okay? Get some sleep."

He nodded.

It wasn't long before he was asleep and not feeling tired, I pulled out a piece of paper and began my promised monthly letter to Mom. It was now almost the end of June. School would be ending and well, we would be missing prom. But that was fine by me. I hated dresses anyway.

_Dear Mom,_

_Nothing is harder than to be away from you. I think about you every day and before I go to sleep at night. We've been trying to keep safe. All of us are well, so don't you worry. _

_But tonight, I'm thinking there must be a bright side to all of this. After all, I'm finally travelling. Gazzy and Angel are really nice kids. You'd like them. It's unfortunate I had to meet them this way, but I'm glad I met them. All of them, Iggy and Nudge, and Fang too. Well, I'm sure you've seen their real names in the news, you've seen their pictures, and you've met Fang._

_Fang and I are trying our hardest to keep everyone safe. One day, we'll come back, all of us together. I feel like in some other life they could be my family. _

_Although the hardest thing not to think about, when I think about leaving you and Ella, is that if I hadn't gone with them, if we hadn't helped Fang out, the rest of them would probably be dead. Or maybe no one would even know they were gone._

_By the time you get this, Ella would have already went to prom, but you tell her that I hope she had a good time, that she shouldn't let me not being there stop her from doing anything. I hope she got into that college, so she can be a vet just like you. I guess we'll have to sort out school when I get back, but that's something to worry about later, right? _

_I miss you, I really do. And again, I'm sorry._

_-Max_

I folded up the letter, not even reading it a second time. If I did, I'd end up rewriting it, and it would just be too hard. It took me a while to address the envelope. I stuck a stamp on it and put it on the dashboard. Fang could drop it in a mailbox in the morning when he woke up, but for now, I'd stay awake and try hard not to think.

* * *

-Fang's POV-

"It's been two months already?" I frowned at Max's letter.

She nodded. "Just about."

"Guess we're not going to prom," I said, trying to ease up the mood. It got a few laughs from the back and Max gave me a smile. I got out of the car and slipped it into the mail slot outside of the rest area building. We took off shortly after, Max driving as usual even though she had stayed up all night. Normal people might question our decision to let her drive, but I guess we weren't normal people, considering our circumstances.

For some reason, in California, traffic was everywhere, no matter where you went. We were trying to get to San Francisco, but at this rate, we would end up stuck somewhere in between. Max kept the radio on to a local music station. I felt like music was better here than in Arizona.

"Fang…I'm hungry," I heard Angel say.

I fumbled through one of the bags on the floor and pulled out a bag of pretzels. "I know this shouldn't count as breakfast, but we'll stop for food soon, I promise."

"Okay, thanks."

Since when did Angel start talking to me? Or had I been around them long enough for them to actually be comfortable around me. That was something new. I wasn't sure if I liked that feeling or not. My whole life I had gone by being the guy people only associated with because they had a good reason to. For Josh, it was my mom's drugs, for Iggy it was because I needed someone to talk to. And then Max came along, and I realized that people weren't as cruel as I made them out to be, and then we ended up here.

Crazy, isn't it?

* * *

**So we'll see all of them getting closer to each other. Eventually, we'll get them back to Arizona. I can't give too much away though. Heh, thanks for reading and reviewing!**


	27. Chapter 27

**The Runaways – Chapter 27**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Angel's POV-

A week had gone by. We were on the beach, well, some secluded area of beach, the van parked a few yards away. Fang had his arm around Max, as usual. You got that feeling from them that they were inseparable, that either of them would put the other before themselves, and yet you knew that they would put the group as a whole before their relationship. It felt safe knowing that. When we had made our escape that night two months ago, I hadn't believed we would make it far.

Tonight we were talking around the fire as a whole group. Usually, we would break off among ourselves, Max and Fang going to plan what was going to happen next, to get some time by themselves. Nudge spent a whole lot of time describing where we were to Iggy. She was sweet like that. And yet now, for the past couple of days, we had started talking to each other for a while before we took time to ourselves.

"You're like the family I never had," Nudge admitted one night.

That caught Fang's attention, and he was totally agreeing with her, his expression said it. And yet Iggy had the opposite expression. It still hurt him that his parents were gone, that he hadn't even been at the funeral.

And yet he still spoke. "I'm glad it was you all that I'm with."

Nudge squeezed his shoulder.

"Well, I wish you were my family," Gazzy remarked. He still had some balled up anger inside of him, and I couldn't blame him.

"You're all sure as hell the closest thing I got to family," Fang stated, something none of us we had expected for him to admit to all of us out loud.

"I…I'm going to miss all of you when this is over," I managed to say.

Max shook her head. "We'll stick together, even after this is all over, I promise. I'm not going to leave you in the hands of government authority. They're not going to put you in a better place than you were before."

That was a big promise to make, but the idea of running without stopping wore me out. We could only go on for so long, and even if Max couldn't keep us all together, at least I would know that someone cared about us.

* * *

-Iggy's POV-

I couldn't tell you what time it was, but I remembered it was cooler than LA. We were moving north, the weather no longer similar to the Arizona dry heat, no longer hot or humid as it was near Hollywood. It was breezy here and Nudge was asleep against me. Fang was up, somewhere, keeping guard with me. We couldn't just sleep out in the open on a beach without anyone keeping watch.

"Does Max really think she can do that, Fang?" I asked quietly.

His footsteps approached me and I felt the sand shift around me as he took a seat. "She thinks she can convince her mom to take us in."

"Well, if that doesn't work out, we'll be old enough to look after ourselves, and I don't care where you're going, but can I come with you?" I let out a sigh. "I'm not going to let myself get stuck in some assisted living place. I'm too young for that."

"Of course," he said, sounding amused. "You think I'm just gonna take off and leave you helpless? That'd be a pretty cruel thing to do…and I don't want to be like…"

"Your father," I finished for him.

"Yeah, that son of a bitch," Fang sighed. "And you know, even if things don't work out the way Max says she wants them too, I'll find a way."

"Do you think Max will be able to convince her Mom?" I was thinking about Gazzy and Angel. I might be blind, but they were the youngest. And Nudge, I knew she could take care of herself, but the thought of leaving her was too hard to comprehend.

"I…I know she will," Fang's voice suddenly started to waver. "Ig, I called her after our first month gone. She told me that when we came back, there'd be a place for all of us there."

"You…you called her?"

"Shhh…" he hushed. "You can't tell Max."

"I…I won't."

"But if it helps you sleep better at night, then I thought you should know," he muttered. "And don't tell the others."

"I wasn't planning to."

Fang stood again, leaving me without another word.

* * *

**A short chapter, but they're all worrying about the future here and Fang's finally admit what he's done. But you get the idea, I don't want to split them all up. They've been through enough already. And now that I've got some time, I've been thinking about how to end several of my stories so I can make way for new ones. Of course I won't end a story for the sake of ending it. It needs a feeling of completeness before I do. Well, this one's still got a while to go, but I'm just rambling, sharing my thoughts. Stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	28. Chapter 28

**The Runaways – Chapter 28**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

We reached Washington, finally. Things seemed calmer. The news coverage about us being missing had died down. I guess you get tired of hearing that there are people out there missing but can't be found and there aren't any new leads. In fact, I was quite glad they had shut up about us.

For hours we had been driving by trees, rain pouring. Fang was in the driver's seat again, trying to determine a place to park and sleep for the night. That's when we rounded a narrow bend, a black car appeared, shiny from the rain and our headlights. Fang slammed on the break, cursing loudly. A man jumped out of the car and Fang cracked his window.

"I'm only here to deliver a message," the man said, a hood pulled over his head, the shadow covering his eyes. "In exchange for the two siblings and one of you, we will let the rest of you go. There is no bargaining, no substituting for the brother and sister. You have twenty four hours to decide and drive to this location."

A map was slipped in by the man.

"Be there or we'll find you and kill you for them instead. Do not contact the authorities. We have men on the inside everywhere." the man growled, leaving us and getting into the car blocking the road. He drove past us.

Fang stared at his lap, slowly rolling up the window. "How…how did they know we were here?"

"Maybe they've been following us all along," Iggy offered.

"Shit." Fang threw the map against the dashboard. "We gotta get out of here!"

"But they said they'd find us and come kill us!" Angel squealed. "And they'll take me and Gazzy!"

"We're not going to let them take you!" Fang shouted, punching the steering wheel.

"Fang, calm down, we just gotta think this through," I said, touching his arm.

"Alright," he breathed out. "We passed a motel. Let's go back there."

* * *

-Fang's POV-

It wasn't even ten yet, but they were all out cold. We hadn't come up with a plan. There didn't seem like there was any escape. Angel told me she'd rather be dead than taken alive. It was a bold thing for someone her age to say, and it tore at my heart a little. But I had a plan. One that none of them would ever agree too.

I left the room, heading to the lobby and putting a few quarters into the payphone.

"Hello?"

"Dr. M, it's Fang."

"Jesus, Fang, I just got Max's letter in the mail today!"

"Shhh, Dr. M, I need you to listen to me carefully."

"Of course…"

I sucked in a deep breath. "We got confronted today by the people that want us. They're going to hurt us. They told us they have people working on the inside, people who are double agents I guess, for the FBI. I can't call them, but I have a plan and I need your help with it."

"Where are you?"

"I can't tell you, but we're far away from where you are," I said quietly. "And you tell nobody I called."

"Of course, I didn't tell anyone last time, I'm not going to change my mind now."

"Are there any agents, police, some kind of authority, watching you or monitoring you?" I questioned.

"Not that I know of. There's a couple of agents that check up on me every now and then. I have their numbers…"

"I'm going to go purchase a cell phone. I will call you when we are at the place they want to meet us. Around five o'clock. I won't be there to talk to you, but you'll be able to hear everything that's going on. When you get that call, I need you to contact each of the agents separately and tell them you just got a call from us, tell them that we need help ASAP and that they're going to need to figure out where I am," I explained. "And no matter what you here, you cannot panic."

"Those people…what do they want from you?"

"In exchange for Gazzy and Angel and one of us, they'll let the rest of us go," I said quietly. "I'm not even sure if this'll work. But I'll protect Max, and everyone else, I promise you that."

"Does Max know you're doing this?"

"No."

"Alright, Fang. But if I don't here with you by midnight of tomorrow, I'm going to call the FBI either way."

"If you don't hear from me, then something's happened. It's probably best if you do call in that situation." I leaned my head against the payphone. "I'm sorry to push this all onto you."

"Well, there isn't another way, is there?"

"No."

"Thank you, Dr. M."

"I'll be here, waiting for all of you to come home."

"Thank you."

"Goodbye, Fang."

I put phone back on the receiver and got in the car, heading to the electronics store I had seen a few miles away.

* * *

**Time for things to heat up.**


	29. Chapter 29

**The Runaways – Chapter 29**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Gazzy's POV-

I was scared for my life. Fang was driving us to that place on the map. We had less than an hour to get there now. Our backpacks were now loaded with explosives thanks to Iggy and me. Fang had stopped at a hardware store and we stocked up. Hopefully a few explosions would be a good enough distraction for us to get away, to show them that we weren't going to give in this easily.

"I'll go with Gazzy and Angel," Fang said quietly.

"No, Fang…"

"Max, this isn't up for discussion."

"But…"

"Don't argue with me! The less we have on our minds the better a chance we have to get through this, alright?"

"Okay, Fang."

But I could tell she was angry.

"And whatever happens, don't wait for me."

"I'm not going to leave you behind, Fang."

"If it's the difference between life and death for you, then you will, promise me that, Max."

She fell silent. "I promise."

Angel shivered next to me, talking in a low voice. "This could be the end of us, Gazzy. I just wanted to tell you that you've been a great big brother."

I closed my eyes. "We're going to be okay, Angel."

Iggy turned to face us. "Nothing but a few explosions to fix things, yeah?"

He was trying to lighten the mood, but the way we were all so tense, I'm not even sure if he could believe in his joke.

It wasn't long before we pulled up to some abandoned looking house. Surprisingly, it wasn't that far from other things. If the map we had was right, Seattle was only another forty-five minutes away without traffic. Although nothing could be as bad as LA traffic. Fang opened his door, checking the time.

"Five minutes. Gazzy, Angel, come with me."

"What about us?" Max asked.

"Stay here unless I tell you to come."

She clenched her teeth, but nodded and we followed Fang towards the house. It looked dilapidated, like it might fall in on itself at any moment. The windows on the second floor were boarded up. Like a haunted house, although not as creepy looking.

"You two listen to me very carefully," Fang said in a whisper. "I have a plan that no one knows about, but if you're going to get out of here alive, you gotta do everything I say, you get that?"

Angel nodded and I felt myself obeying as well.

He pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number. Then he threw it into a bush.

"We're gonna need help to survive this," he said, taking another step forward, trying not to limp. "Whatever I tell you, don't second guess me, just get the hell out of here."

"Fang, you have to do your best to get out of here alive too," Angel interjected.

He looked down at her. "I will."

We knocked on the door and these two cars pulled up from the back side of the house. These big, muscular guys appeared. It almost seemed surreal. This stuff was the kind of thing you saw in a movie, not what happened to people in real life. Then again, there was nothing normal about this at all.

"So you've decided to accept my offer?" The man that appeared next was my father. I resisted the urge to lunge out.

"We're here, now let the others go!" Fang spat.

"Tsk, tsk so demanding," my father frowned. "Ah, Angel, Gazzy, I've missed you dearly. Actually, no, you're the thing standing between me and happiness. But soon enough, I'll get what I want and disappear from this horrid place."

Angel was blinking back tears.

"The others in the car, bring them out here, please," my father motioned. "We haven't got all day. I'd like to be out of here before dinner. I want to show them who I really am."

The guys hustled Max and Fang and Iggy out of the car. They stood behind us, hands held behind their backs.

My dad's eyes flickered to Fang. "You and your little 'missing' girlfriend caused a lot of trouble for me. I see you've chosen to sacrifice yourself. How charming."

Fang said nothing.

"And Iggy," my father went on. "I never thought I'd see you again. I'm so sorry about your family, but you know, they were just a small casualty in all of this."

"You bastard," Iggy said in a low growl.

My father laughed, turning his attention to Nudge. "Your parents were good friends of mine. They wanted me to take over their part in the business, but I have better things envisioned. I have no interested in you."

He turned back to Fang. "I say we start with a little trauma, you know? Get the blood flowing?"

Two men came over, grabbing Fang.

"I heard that you've got a bad leg," my father smiled cruelly. "Shall we?"

They grabbed hold of Fang's leg and began to twist. His bloodcurdling screams were deafening, but exactly the kind of distraction we needed.

I looked around. Everyone had their eyes on Fang. Slowly, I slipped my hand into my pocket.

* * *

-Max's POV-

Gazzy made the first move. I watched him, holding my breath as he pulled one of the makeshift explosives we had thrown together. They were almost like grenades and he pulled the tab, rolling it towards the guards that stood off to the side.

He threw himself against his sister and Fang. We all fell to the ground within seconds, the bomb going off. Iggy was next, uncapping another one and chucking it towards the house. I tossed one under one of their cars. That caused a huge explosion, flames shooting up in the air.

"I should have prepared more!" The man swore, seeing most of the other men who had been guarding us on the ground, passed out. Somewhere between the explosions and rolling around on the ground, I had missed him grabbing a gun.

"IGGY NO!" Iggy wound his arm back, throwing one right at the man holding the gun. I hadn't noticed until it was too late, but he was pointing it at Fang.

Fang dropped to the ground and the man managed to deflect Iggy's explosive away. We were all thrown back a couple of feet. In the distance, there were sirens, maybe even a helicopter above us. I forced myself to get up, kneeling next to Fang.

"Fang!" I shouted. "Fang! Don't you dare let go!"

I pressed my hands against his chest.

He started to cough up blood. "Max…I love you…I…"

"I love you too, Fang, but you're going to be okay."

"The FBI is coming. I…I managed to…"

"Fang!"

He closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, Max."

* * *

**Suspense? Yes? I'm sorry to leave you hanging.**


	30. Chapter 30

**The Runaways – Chapter 30**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Iggy's POV-

I had no _fucking_ idea what had happened over the last few hours. But somehow the FBI had come, they had arrived just before Gazzy and Angel's dad regained consciousness. We were sitting in the waiting room, hoping someone would tell us how Fang was doing. Max wasn't saying anything, and I knew it had to be bad.

Max's mom was on her way here now, but Max wasn't concerned about that, in fact, if you didn't know she was stressing out over Fang's condition, it almost seemed like she didn't care at all.

"He'll make it," Gazzy assured Max. "He has to."

But I knew better than to think things like that. Gazzy was just a kid. He still had his innocence. Or maybe I had just lost mine at too young an age.

"Max, your mom just arrived. She's on her way up here now." It was the same agent that had asked us questions before. Although none of us were really up for answering.

Max sat down in the seat next to me. The next five minutes seemed like eons.

And then I heard footsteps. Lighter, cautious, a woman's. Max's mom's footsteps. They started to quicken, and then it was a full out run. Max stood and I could hear both of them crying.

"Max, I'm so glad you're okay," her mom said quietly. "All those nights I spent up, I just…I can't believe you're here now."

Max was sobbing, trying to say something about Fang.

"Is…is he going to be okay?" I almost forgot that she had met Fang before we all ran.

"I…I don't know, Mom."

They both sat to my left, talking quietly. Sometimes I was glad I was blind. There was less to see, less things to get to you, and still I felt like finding my own corner and curling up for a while. Nudge took my hand some time later, resting against me.

It wasn't long until Max got herself under control. She never struck me as the crying type and introduced us with a shaky voice to her mom. Dr. M, she said most people called her. She seemed nice, but I tried not to think too much. We were supposed to be safe, but I didn't feel safe.

* * *

-Nudge's POV-

They kept us in the hospital, which was fine by me because Max seemed more relaxed around us than being alone with other people.

Fang was going to be okay, but they wouldn't let us see him. They still had him drugged, saying he wasn't stable enough. That was killing Max. And then, the agents came to talk to us again.

"We're going to bring you back to Arizona," the agent announced.

Max was the first to have her say. "No."

"Max, you have your family. But they need someone to look after them," the agent said calmly.

"I won't let you separate us!" Max was angry now. "I just spent every day for the past two months with them, and you think you can just whisk them off and away? They're like…they're like family to me!"

"Max, calm down." Dr. M spoke softly. "Look, they've been through a lot. I don't think splitting them up is a good idea, I mean, I'll watch them, I'll take responsibility of them."

"I…I don't think that's a good idea," the agent stuttered.

"Well, I don't think it's a good idea to keep them locked up somewhere because they haven't got a home to go to anymore. They need comfort and I don't think wherever you're going to take them, wherever you plan on sending them after this is over, it's only going to hurt them more."

The agent hesitated. "Alright, Mrs. Martinez. I'll talk to my boss."

"Thank you, Agent."

He nodded and left us. Max fell back into her chair eyes closed.

"Thank you, Dr. M," I said.

She gave me a small smile.

* * *

-Max's POV-

My head was spinning. We wouldn't be leaving Washington until Fang was stable enough to be moved, which wouldn't be for a while. The FBI kept us in the hospital. The staff had agreed to spare us a room and a couple beds. I lay on one, staring at the ceiling.

Three days had gone by since we had gotten here. Last night I had talked to Ella. It was a whole lot of crying and tears. I didn't know what to say to her, and she kept the conversation going. She had gotten into the college she wanted to, she had gone to prom with the guy she wanted, and in the midst of everything Mom had still gotten her a car. Talking to her had kept my mind away from worrying about Fang, but here I was again, worrying.

"Hey, Max."

I glanced at Iggy. He was across the room, draping a blanket over Nudge.

"Fang's a fighter," he said, moving to Gazzy and Angel's bed. "I mean, I know, we have no idea what kind of condition he's in, but I know he's going to be okay. If anything, he'll fight to stay alive because of you."

The door opened, a doctor walking in. Fang's doctor.

"Well, speak of the devil," Iggy said under his breath.

"You're Max, right?" the doctor asked.

I nodded.

"Your friend has been asking for you and the FBI said as long as it's okay with me, you could go see him." The doctor adjusted his glasses. "He should be waking up in a half hour. You can wait until he does."

"Thank you, Doctor."

I stepped out into the hallway, Mom was out there on the phone, probably trying to keep things together at her office.

"Max, where are you going?" she asked, putting her hand over the speaker.

"To see Fang."

"Oh, okay." She gave me an encouraging smile and I continued to follow the doctor.

There was an agent standing by Fang's door. The doctor came to a stop there, turning to me again.

"The bullet was centimeters from killing him. His knee is still in pretty bad shape. He's in a lot of pain, he's weak, but there's a good chance he'll recover without too much damage left," the doctor informed me. "Don't stress him out."

"And Max." It was the agent who spoke next, what was his name? Agent Reed, I think.

I raised an eyebrow.

"I understand that he trusts you more than anyone else," Agent Reed spoke in a low voice. I could barely make out what he was saying. "We were going to contact his parents. But when we looked them up, they're both dead. It was a murder-suicide…"

"It was the father then?" I cut Reed off. "He wasn't close to either of his parents."

He nodded slowly. "I wouldn't go telling him that, but I do have some good news that you can probably tell him."

I waited for him to continue.

"I talked to your mom. Once social services checks everything out, which shouldn't be a problem, none of you are going to have to be separate from each other."

"Thank you, Agent Reed."

He nodded and opened the door for me. I took a deep breath and stepped in.

* * *

**Right, so you know, that probably would never work out in real life, being missing for so long and then coming back and some woman that you barely know would just agree to become your adoptive parent, but for the sake of the story, it'll give them all that sense of safety as they try to move on.**

**Thanks for reading! Next chapter should be up soon.**


	31. Chapter 31

**The Runaways – Chapter 31**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Fang's POV-

I felt like I was in a haze when I opened my eyes. Max had her head rested against the bed I was on, her hand in mine. There were these tubes up my nose and I took in a breath, feeling this numbing pain in my chest. My leg hurt too. It took me a while, but I got the strength to squeeze Max's hand.

She stirred, slowly, eyes fluttering open.

"Oh my god, Fang!" Max sat up, squeezing my hand back.

"Hey, Max…" I felt like it wasn't me talking.

Max smoothed out my hair. "Shhh…don't talk."

"What…what happened?"

"Fang, you got shot in the chest," she sniffled.

It suddenly came rushing back to me.

"The others…"

"If things go well, Mom will have legal guardianship over them," she assured me. "We're gonna be okay, Fang, don't worry."

"Will you stay here?" I asked weakly.

"Of course," she said. "I'm not going anywhere."

Things blurred together. According to Max, they had me on all kinds of medication, and I tried not to wonder about it too much. Time blurred together, but Max always made sure I knew what day it was, or she tried to make sure I knew.

Some days went by, or maybe even a week. I still wasn't lucid enough to make sense of anything. When I did manage to hold onto consciousness for a while, Max was always there, ready to talk, telling me about anything she could think of, promising me that I'd be okay.

* * *

-Gazzy's POV-

Max's mom was really nice. She got us food from outside of the hospital, she didn't talk to us like we were little kids, even though that's exactly what we were. The FBI agents didn't tell us much, but she made she we knew what she knew.

We sat in our makeshift bedroom where they kept us in. The hospital gave me this feeling of anxiousness though, and so I stayed inside even though they said that we could go out and walk to stretch our legs. Iggy preferred to be familiar with his surroundings, so he often would let Nudge walk him around. Sometimes Angel would tag along with them, and other times, she'd sit here with me.

Max joined us for dinner tonight, which was fast food from some place down the street. We sat around a small table, using two of the beds as seats. Angel was squeezing ketchup for Iggy, telling Max how the last time he tried to do itself he squirted it onto Nudge.

"How is Fang?" Iggy asked quietly.

Max let out a breath. "The doctor told me today that he most likely won't ever regain the use of his leg. There was just…a lot of damage."

"Does he know?"

She hesitated. "Yeah, he does."

Iggy shook his head. "I'm guessing he didn't take that well."

"No." Max began to eat her food.

Dinner went on silently.

Later that night, I lay awake, like I'm sure the others did too, thinking about Fang. He could have ran away without us, he could have left Iggy to try to figure out a way to save us, he could be happy with Max instead of suffering. There was no reason for him to be the only one who walked away with scars, and I wondered what he thought about us now. I almost asked Max today if he had mentioned us, but I decided against it. I didn't need to upset her too.

But Iggy kept us assured that he would be okay, and I really hoped that he wouldn't look back at this all and regret it.

* * *

-Fang's POV-

"You should go home, Max."

But she shook her head. It had been weeks now. Maybe almost a month. Her mom was back and forth constantly, but Ella could take care of herself, Max had told me.

"I can't leave you here." Max took my hand, resting the back of it against her cheek. "Fang, you wouldn't last a day here alone."

I closed my eyes. "Yeah, you're right."

"Another week or two and we can go home." I felt her smile. "We'll get you some real food, we'll get you back on your feet."

"Your optimism is promising," I whispered.

She let herself laugh. "C'mon, Fang, it's not so bad."

"We gotta deal with school and college."

"That's the last thing you need to worry about."

"Would you worry about yourself first?" Max let out a sigh.

I opened my eyes. "Alright, Max."

She gave me a small smile.

"How are the others holding up?" I managed to ask. It was only the other day that I saw them, but I needed to talk about something else.

"Well, Mom takes them out. The FBI questioned them the other day. Things seem to be tying up, Fang."

The agents had talked to me too. But they caught their killers, Gazzy and Angel's parents. There wasn't much to say, and I wondered whether I should have mentioned my father.

* * *

-Gazzy's POV-

We were finally going back to Arizona. They had Fang in a wheelchair, and he didn't seem too happy about it. Well, he didn't say much. The brief time we spent with him every now and then each week since the doctor started to let us see him, he usually carried on a conversation with Iggy, a half pained expression on his face. However he really felt, Fang was good at hiding it. But my worries of him regretting everything had been put to rest.

"You're all still in one piece," Fang had said, a look of amusement breaking through that grimace he had. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Hey, Man, what about you?" Iggy took a seat on the opposite side of the bed from Max. "How do I know you're not in two pieces?"

Fang rolled his eyes.

Nudge was the only one brave enough to say anything more to Fang than he had asked. She actually thanked him, and he gave us the beginnings of a smile, telling her that he was glad we were okay again.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Right now, I've got a lot of school work to finish up, but if you follow my other stories, I might be slower updating some compared to the others. I'm updating based on what I have written already. I haven't had the time to write much, but I'm hoping to find some time to sit and write a whole lot out. Anyway, thanks again! I'll have a new chapter up soon, hopefully.**


	32. Chapter 32

**The Runaways – Chapter 32**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Angel's POV-

Max's mom, Dr. M, and her sister, Ella, welcomed us into their home with open arms. We were all exhausted. Fang was in a lot of pain, you could tell, and he was suffering silently, trying to make sure Max wouldn't worry too much. It was sweet of him, but I think Max knew that he was lying through his teeth about being okay.

Things started to settle in. Come September we would be off at school, well, without Fang, Max, and Iggy. They were supposed to be off in college, but Fang obviously wasn't up for that and Iggy would feel too vulnerable, not to mention Max's attachment to Fang wouldn't let her go far.

But it was good to sleep in a real bed, one we wouldn't have to be afraid of jumping out of and sprinting away in the middle of the night. We had to share rooms, but that was quite alright with me. Nudge and I had a room together while Iggy and Gazzy shared the other. Fang had his own room and Max had hers with Ella.

As for now, the FBI wouldn't let us leave the house. Fang only got out when he had to go visit the doctor, which was like once a week, and Max wasn't even allowed to go with him. He was only gone for two hours though, and she often occupied herself with looking after us and helping her mom.

But today, I lay on the couch, the TV on to some new show that had developed over our absence away from society. Max was in the kitchen talking to her mom as they made lunch.

"It's your decision Max," said Dr. M. "College is a big deal. It's important, and I know you have to choose between following your heart and your head. But whichever you choose, I'll be there to support you one hundred percent."

It took a long time for Max to answer her mother. "I think staying here would be best. Ella is already going off to college, and now we've got all this to deal with. We can at least save money for a while, and Ella can go and not worry about anything."

I could almost picture Max's mom smiling for some reason. "Then it's settled. Now let's finish getting lunch together. We can have it ready when Fang comes back. I'm sure he'll be tired."

Sitting up, I spotted Iggy heading towards me, unsure of himself. He hadn't quite figured out his surroundings yet, but he was adjusting quickly as always.

"Did they start cooking yet?" he questioned.

I shook my head. "They're about to start. Fang should be back soon."

Iggy made it to the side of the couch and pat my head. "Thanks, Ange."

* * *

-Fang's POV-

It was late, and I was up as usual, since I had refused pain medication, this was the consequence I was going to suffer. Things were healing well, considering the damage already done there before I had been shot. The doctor said that in a few weeks, they could get me started on rehabilitation, and I had to make a mental note that I wouldn't give up because Max was giving up going to college for me, and I felt guilty. She deserved better than this.

I closed my eyes, just for a moment, and then something was shaking. Startled, I almost rolled off the bed, and then I realized it was Max. She took my hand and curled up against my side.

"It's only me," she whispered.

Letting out a breath, I squeezed her hand. "Your mother wouldn't approve of this."

But we had promised each other we weren't going to do anything else stupid, and Max laughed a little, relaxing now.

"So why are you up?" I asked her after a while.

"My father is coming to visit tomorrow."

The words seemed to hang in the air.

"Mom wants to keep you all away from Jeb." Max sensed my unease. "He's not a pleasant man and I'm sure he's unhappy something like this didn't come up sooner because he could have fought for custody over me."

"It's too late for that anyway, we're almost legal adults," I murmured.

"Exactly," sighed Max. "He's going to hold on as long as he has to."

Silence crept over us, and for a long time, we said nothing. I thought she was asleep, and I nudged her. "You can't sleep here, Max."

She let out a sigh. "Yeah, I know."

Before she got out of bed, she leaned over and kissed me on the cheek, promising me she'd have breakfast for me when I woke, or at least she would have Iggy prepare something. I muttered a thank you to her and she left, closing the door. I closed my eyes, wishing we could have fallen asleep together, and how perfect it would have been.

* * *

-Max's POV-

Fang didn't wake until noon, and I hoped that my late night trips to his room weren't the reason. He sat in the kitchen, eating the lunch that Iggy had thrown together quickly for him. Jeb would be here in any minute, and I paced the kitchen.

"Do you want me to go when he comes?" Fang rested his fork against his plate. "I can finish later."

I shook my head. "No, it's alright. You should eat. I'm not worried about Jeb seeing you."

He nodded, picking his fork back up.

When the doorbell rang, I walked slowly towards it. My mom met me in the foyer and opened it, giving a disdained smile to Jeb.

"You can sit in the family room," Mom offered.

"Thanks." Jeb hung his coat up. It had been years since he had lived in this house, but things hadn't moved around much. But like those kinds of things that didn't change, his unfatherly attitude also remained. Not even a hello or a smile or a hug to me. Sometimes, when I saw him after not seeing him for a long time, I wanted to punch him in the face.

Leading him into the family room, I caught Fang's eye as I passed the kitchen. He had stopped eating again, watching me as I sat, and I was glad Jeb's back was to him. Jeb wasn't here because he cared about me. He was here to talk about something, and I could see it in the way he sat on the edge of the couch, leaning towards the coffee table between us.

"Have you thought about college, Max?" he asked.

"No, I'm going to stick around here for a while." I avoided his eyes. "To help Mom out with anything. Ella is already heading off to New York. That's a lot of money already."

"But I can pay for your education, Max. Why do you forget this always?"

I held back a laugh. "Jeb, even if I went to college, I wouldn't go to a place that you wanted me to go, I wouldn't fulfill your dreams of the son you never had. I wish I could make you happy, but I want to do exactly the opposite to be honest. I hate you, Jeb, and I hope you know when my birthday comes around, I never want to see you again. You wanted a perfect child, a perfect son. Someone to follow in your footsteps and exceed your so-called accomplishments. Well reality check, and here it is. You could have had it. You could have been a real father, but you fought the things you needed to do to attain what you wanted. _You killed Ari_."

His eyes seemed to be fueled with rage now. He always blamed Ari's death on us. Ari resented him, always. Ari always sided with us, not with Jeb, and that frustrated Jeb. I knew Jeb had always been determined to make Ari into a mini-Jeb. But he was never nice to Ari, and naturally, that usually led to hate between them. Jeb didn't understand emotion, and he didn't understand that you couldn't just plow through life only wanting and not trying to find a way to make what you want, or what you need, happen.

"How dare you talk to me like that, Maximum." He stood, fists balled. "I will give you everything that you need to succeed! Don't through it away! I don't sit around blaming you for everything that's gone wrong in my life."

"I don't blame you Jeb." I sneered at him. "You're my father, and nothing will change that, and so I feel sorry for you because you'll never understand how I feel, or how anyone feels."

Before I could even react, he grabbed me, reaching over the table. I fought him, and as I put my weight forward, he fell back, my legs connecting with the table, giving him enough time to free himself of my grip.

"You're so ungrateful!" He spat. "I wish you and Ari had never been born!"

Jeb slammed his weight into me, raising his fist. I closed my eyes, waiting for him to hit me. At least if he hurt me, I'd have a way to never see him again. No judge would go against hard evidence of me getting beaten up.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Before I knew it, Fang was beside us, and he propelled himself out of his wheelchair, pulling Jeb onto the ground. I rolled off the table, landing on my wrist and cursing, but I got to my feet. Fang, as much pain as I knew he was in, was winning against Jeb. Although Jeb had managed to connect his fist to Fang's nose, and blood was spewing out, Fang was still fighting back.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" One of the FBI agents had entered the room, Mom trailing at his heels. The agent pulled Jeb off of Fang, handcuffing him.

Fang lay back on the floor, closing his eyes as soon as Jeb was secured by another agent. I kneeled next to him, for a moment, I thought he had passed out.

"You alright?" he asked me, his eyes fluttering open as he took in a deep breath.

"Am I okay?" I laughed. "I oughta be asking you that."

The agent interrupted us. "I'm going to call an ambulance."

"No…" Fang shook his head, sitting up now. "I'm fine."

The agent opened his mouth to protest, but Mom cut in, saying she would take care of him. I grabbed a cloth, and Fang began to staunch the bleeding.

"I'm sorry 'bout the mess," Fang told my mom.

"Don't worry about it, Fang." She gave him a smile. "We're all okay and that's what counts."

* * *

**I suppose the whole running away part is over now, but I think I'll continue on with how they'll all get back to trying to have normal lives. I'd like a happy ending. But for the most part, closure is what's left.**

**Thanks for reading! I'll update ASAP  
**


	33. Chapter 33

**The Runaways – Chapter 33**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Nudge's POV-

It was different, being back in school. People who had never said anything to me before were suddenly talking to me. I wasn't trailer trash anymore. I had become a celebrity, and it was sort of shocking. I mean, here I was, a month and a half into school already, and people were still talking.

Iggy was back at Max's house. Back at home, I should say. I wished he was here at school, which seemed silly because I'm pretty sure he hated being here. All the people and the crowds. Still, it was different adjusting. At least Gazzy and Angel were at the same school.

But things finally had routine to them. I guess some people got bored with doing the same thing every day, but I felt I had enough adventure, and being boring and normal for a while would be good for me. It was to school in the morning, after eating breakfast cooked by Iggy, then walking home at the end of the day, or sometimes Max would pick me up if Fang was going to the hospital for physical therapy.

Oh, right, Fang. He was alright I guess. His nose was a little more crooked now, and well, don't tell anyone, but I think it actually suited him better. I don't know, that didn't really make any sense, but it was like it showed all the pain he went through. All the pain he was going through. Max worried about him a lot, but he was doing well. That was what Iggy told me anyway.

I made some new friends. If that's what you could call them. I'm not sure I really liked them, but we did homework at lunch together, and worked on class projects, so I thought they were alright. I mean, I still walked down the hallways, seeing people whispering about me as I passed. It was a little disheartening, and it made me wonder if Iggy would be able to hear them even if he couldn't see them.

Today Max was picking me up from school. Fang sat in the passenger seat, looking worn out, but he gave me a small smile, and I gave him one in return. I didn't doubt Fang anymore. He cared about us just as much as he cared about Max.

"Hey, you." Iggy, to my surprise, was sitting in the back.

"Hey, yourself," I laughed.

He gave me a grin. "I got bored at home."

It was only a week ago we had brought Iggy to visit his parents at the cemetery. We got some flowers and laid them down nicely. He stood there, telling us a few stories, maybe what he would have said if he had been there at the funeral. Iggy didn't break down until we got home. But he told me later that there was no point in mourning anymore. They were gone, and he wasn't going to dwell on things that were only going to put him down.

"Fang started walking today," Iggy said after a while. "We're going to celebrate."

"Celebrate?"

Iggy nodded, his hand finding mine. "Fang's quite reluctant, but we're gonna go pick up some stuff. I'm gonna cook us a nice dinner tonight."

"Don't you do that every night?"

He shrugged. "But it's _Monday_ night, so it'll just make the rest of your week seem better."

I leaned against him laughing, Fang rolling his eyes, and Max chuckling as she continued to drive. Tonight, it seemed, was going to be a good one.

* * *

-Angel's POV-

"This is a celebration," Iggy raised his glass. "And here's a toast for Fang getting us out of the mess alive, a toast to his first steps, and a toast for us being here all together."

Everyone raised their glasses. Iggy had prepared the most wonderful smelling food. We let him sit at the head of the table, but I think it was mostly because Max preferred to sit right next to Fang. There was something about the two of them. It was cute almost, the way they seemed so perfect for each other.

"Alright, alright, let's eat now," Gazzy finally said. "I'm starving."

We passed the food around. I felt like we had been spoiled with Iggy's amazing cooking ever since we had been here, but this food, well I thought it was the best he ever made so far. There wasn't a bite left to spare when we had finished. Even Fang, whose appetite seemed to dwindle lately, had eaten a lot.

"Dessert?" Iggy questioned. "I've made homemade ice cream with Angel's help."

I gave him a grin and he seemed to sense it because he grinned back. I hopped out of my chair, dragging it with me as I went to the freezer and stood on it to reach the top shelf.

"I've got spoons!" Gazzy tore the drawer open and pulled out a handful, sticking one on his nose as he walked towards us.

"I call not eating with that one," I told him.

"Don't worry, we're gonna use it to serve the ice cream," Gazzy smirked.

I rolled my eyes, taking my seat back to the table. With Nudge's help, Iggy dished out the ice cream, and it was like we were in heaven all over again.

"I never want to buy ice cream again," Max commented.

Iggy seemed very proud of what he had made tonight. "Well, it took a while to make."

It was getting late though. Max started to get the dishes in the dishwasher after we finished. I was getting tired. My parents never let me stay up this late, and we had school tomorrow. One by one we left, and I had a feeling by the end, it would only be Max and Fang left awake. Dr. M had just come home as I was going to my room. She said goodnight to all of us, and headed to her own room. I wondered if she saved any lives today.

Sometime later, after I had already settled in bed, I heard Max and Fang come down the hallway.

"Goodnight, Max," I heard Fang say, the exhaustion noted in his voice.

"Night, Fang."

There was a pause.

"Max?"

"Yes, Fang?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

You know, it's probably a good thing when you can go to sleep smiling. I had to say that I was lucky. Well, all of us were lucky, that we had people like Fang and Max to save us.

* * *

**Alright, this is really sort of a filler to show how everyone has been adjusting. I'm working out the kinks for the end of this story. Anyway, probably a few more chapters before I reach the end. If there's anything you think I should get to before I end this, just let me know. I'm open to ideas.**

**Thanks, as always for reading, and for your patience between my updates. I've got some new stories up too, so if you're looking for something new to read, check out **_**We Were Strangers in the Dark**_** or **_**Because I Love You**_**. Once again, thanks for reading. Your reviews are always immensely appreciated, and I don't think I let my readers know that enough.**


	34. Chapter 34

**The Runaways – Chapter 34**

By MyNameIsCAL

**I'm going to start fastforwarding a little, so I can reach one of those in the future endings, but without having a huge gap with too many things not evened out.**

-Fang's POV-

I've been walking for a while now with crutches. The pain was still there, but by now I was used to it, although with winter here, and the weather colder than it usually was, it seemed to make it worse. Although the holiday season was approaching, and even though it would bring a bittersweet feeling, there was still some excitement to the idea that we would be together, happily. I had never really celebrated Christmas with my family. In fact last year, I think I had ended up at the mall.

"We're going to put up a tree and everything, I promise," Max told Gazzy and Angel. "Ella is going to come home too. Mom says she'll take us Christmas shopping this weekend."

The only person who seemed a little down by all of this Christmas talk was Iggy, but as the topic changed to food preparations, he seemed a little happier.

"So what do you want for Christmas?" Max asked me.

I lay on the bed, taking off my knee brace. "I don't want anything, Max."

She took a seat on the edge of the bed, looking a little unsatisfied. "Well…"

I wrapped my arms around her, resting my chin on her shoulder. "It's enough for me to just be here with you. All I'll ever ask for is you, Max."

Max turned to face me and I leaned in and kissed her, feeling her arms come around my neck. When we broke apart, her smile seemed to be glowing. She had her hand rested against my cheek, fingers in my hair.

"I promised Mom I'd take out the trash," she said, still grinning. "I'll be back soon."

I gave her a smile in return and watched her hurry out of the room.

The next morning we rose a little earlier than usual. I wasn't not particularly excited to go to the mall, but the others were, and well, I wasn't going to ruin it for them. But this would also be the most walking I would be doing since I had gotten back on my feet. Max worried about this, but I told her I would be fine.

"Why don't you and Fang go together and I'll keep an eye on the younger ones, alright?" Max's mom took me by surprise when she suggested this.

"Are you sure? I thought you had to go to your office today," Max protested.

But her mom shook her head, telling Max that we would meet up for lunch in two hours.

"Well…where do you want to go first?" I asked.

She stared at the list we had made of things we wanted to get the others. "I guess we'll get Iggy's gift first."

"So then the record store." I started forward. "I haven't been there in a long time."

And yet it didn't seem like that long ago I was stalking Max in the mall every Friday night. Max must have been thinking the same thing because she smiled as we passed the burger place.

"I remember smiling at you," Max said.

"I was surprised you didn't run away or something." I shook my head. "You were never afraid of me, Max."

It was painful, shopping. I would never admit it to Max, but my leg really hurt from just going around the record store. At least by lunch time, we had gotten gifts for everyone. I felt bad for not being able to carry the bags, but she insisted it was stupid of me to feel guilty since it wasn't even possible for me to be able to.

"I have to go get a few things and swing by the office," Dr. M said to us as we met up at the burger place for lunch. "But here's so money. Get some food. I'll pick you up around three, okay?"

"Thanks, Mom."

Dr. M nodded, taking some of our bags to the car as she left.

"Well, shall we get a table?" Max pocketed the money.

* * *

-Gazzy's POV-

We sat and ordered quickly. All that walking made me hungry, but looking at Fang, he looked worn out already, his arm around Max as she listened to Nudge and Angel talk about all the things they had seen in the mall. Iggy was twirling his fork around, and I hoped he wouldn't accidentally send it flying in someone's direction.

"So where else do you need to go?" Max asked.

Angel glanced at me. "Well, we still gotta get gifts for Fang."

I held my laughter back, afraid it would make Fang angry, but he seemed amused. Sometimes I forgot that under the rock surface he had built up, underneath it all, he wasn't too different from the rest of us.

"You don't have to get me anything." Fang's eyes feel on Max. "I'm just glad we're okay, you know?"

Well, it wasn't everyday you heard Fang say something nice like that.


	35. Chapter 35

**The Runaways – Chapter 35**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

"You're cutting the pieces too big."

I glanced up at Iggy and Fang who were sitting on the other side of the table preparing Christmas Eve dinner. The past few days had been hectic. We had spent most of the week trying to get all of our decorations up.

"Sorry," Fang muttered.

Iggy let out a sigh. "I know you want to help, Fang, but I think I can manage by myself."

Fang nodded, not saying anything else to Iggy. The past few days also put Fang in a bad mood. He wanted to help, but his leg seemed to be giving him more trouble now that he was walking, and Mom insisted that he rest.

"Fang, I'm sor—"

"It's fine, Ig." Fang stood and left us.

"I…I shouldn't have said that." Iggy shook his head. "The way he was cutting it would have been fine, I just…I wasn't thinking, Max."

"It's okay, Ig. I'll go talk to him." I pushed myself away from the table and went down the hall, finding Fang sitting on the bed in his room, rubbing his leg.

Even when I sat on the bed, he kept his eyes fixed on the floor. I settled my arms around him, and he finally gave in, arm resting around my shoulders, my head now resting against his chest as he kissed my forehead.

"I'm too hard on myself." He closed his eyes. "I just…I feel so useless like this."

"No one's expecting you to do anything, Fang." I put my arms around his neck. "You saved our lives. The only thing we want from you is to get back on your feet, for you to be okay."

"I know, Max."

I leaned forward and kissed him. When we pulled away, I could tell he was trying not smile.

* * *

-Iggy's POV-

Fang seemed to be in a relatively better mood during dinner. Although I never doubted Max's ability to bring Fang around. It was nice to have the entire kitchen table filled. As much as I thought I was going to resent Christmas because my parents were gone, perhaps this could be a new tradition I was going to warm too.

"Iggy, this food is amazing," Nudge commented. "Did I ever tell you how I used to eat TV dinners every night? And then…"

"You ran into Fang that one time," I finished for her. "Yes, you told me, Nudge."

She leaned her head against my arm for a moment, laughing. I grinned, telling her that someday she was going to run out of things to talk about.

"Never," she told me. "Even if I just have to repeat myself over and over."

I humored her and laughed. "Well, then I guess I better hope that doesn't happen, or I'll be wishing I was deaf too."

"Don't joke about that."

I was surprised to hear Fang say that.

"Ah, sorry, man," I let the grin wipe from my face.

"Just…sorry, I know you didn't mean it." The table had gone quiet, and he sounded uncomfortable now.

"Fang…"

"It's alright, Ig." I heard him scrape the bottom of his plate. "You know, you gotta teach us all how to cook, I think."

I gave him a smile now. "What do you gotta know how to cook for, Fang? I think I owe you at least to cook for you whenever you're hungry."

He seemed amused now. "Of course, Ig."

And thankfully, dinner continued on.

PAGE BREAK!

-Max's POV-

Fang had gone off to bed before we had even got to unwrapping presents. Mom had offered to put it off until the morning, but Fang insisted we go on without him. I had his pile of presents now, heading to bring them to his bedroom.

"Hey, Max."

I turned, trying not to drop any of them. "Yes?"

"There's one more gift for you."

Angel held out a little wrapped box. I balanced the pile for a second and took it.

"It's from Fang." She yawned, heading down the hall. "Anyway, goodnight, Max. Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas." I stood there for a while, wondering when Fang had even found the time to get a present.

I pushed the door open and placed his presents on the floor near his side of the bed. He was snoring lightly, and I fixed the blankets, pulling them over him. Then I went to the other side of the bed and sat down, turning on the old and dim lamp. Slowly, I pulled off the wrapping paper, trying not to make too much noise.

It was a small black and velvet box. Jewelry, no doubt. I pushed it open, revealing a necklace with a winged charm. It was beautiful, and I smiled, taking it out of the box and fastening it around my neck. And then I noticed a piece of paper folded up inside of it. I took it out, Fang's handwriting all over it.

_Max_,

_We've been through a hell of a lot these past few months, and I know you all think you're in debt to me because I saved all of your lives, but the truth is, you saved all of us. If you hadn't come up to me in the mall that day, I'd probably be dead. So I owe you my life too._

_ Anyway, I know I said I wasn't going to get you anything, but I ordered this online and had Angel pick it up at the store in the mall when we went Christmas shopping. And I guess I should explain the wings. Being with you is like flying. It can be exhilarating, but it's also peaceful. I can only imagine that if we could fly, we could see the world for miles, and you've opened up my eyes to everything I've been missing over the years._

_ So I hope this'll remind you of me from time to time, wherever the future leads us. Although, I'm quite sure we'll be seeing each other in the future from the way we can spend all night up and talking. _

_ I love you, always,_

_ Fang_


	36. Chapter 36

**The Runaways – Chapter 36**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Fang's POV-

School started up again too soon. Max was left to keeping me distracted from the pain now that it was often just the two of us with Iggy. I would be done with rehab soon, but it was hard not to feel held back still, Max watching my every step as if I were a little kid. Walking with crutches felt demeaning almost.

I sat on a bench watching Iggy and Max. They stood in front of the tombstones of his parents. He liked to come once every other week, mostly to lay down new flowers. Sometimes he came with Nudge, and Max and I would sit and watch him, but he said he didn't want to burden her, and so usually we were the ones to take him.

Max was walking back towards me now. She sat, taking my hand.

"What're you thinking about?" she asked me.

"My mother," I said quietly. "I haven't visited her grave."

We sat in silence. There wasn't much to be said. My mother's death hadn't surprised me. In fact, maybe it was a relief I didn't have to worry about her, or my father, anymore.

Max didn't say anything, and I didn't want her to. I didn't want to discuss my mother or the pain I was in. I didn't want her to tell me things were going to be okay because I knew they would be, and the reassurance made me feel weak.

She rested her head on my shoulder instead, and I drew my arm around her. Iggy was laying flowers down now, fresh from the store down the street from Max's house. He stood there for a while, and I knew he was blaming himself. Running through all the scenarios in which he might have been able to save them. I wondered if he regretted any of this. He had everything I had envied. A family, friends, people who accepted him, and he had thrown it away to help Nudge and Gazzy and Angel.

I realized I would never be able to relate, that I had nothing to lose, that I would have thrown it all away even if it meant I ended up alone in the end.

Iggy turned to us now, walking slowly.

"I'm so sorry, Ig." The words left my mouth without much thought.

He took a seat next to me. "I've known you long enough that I've heard many of your apologies, Fang, and in a lot of ways, I'm sorry too, but we can't change what's happened, so maybe, you know, it's better this way, the way things turned out."

We sat there for a while without saying anything after that.

* * *

-Max's POV-

I no longer knew what day it was. The hours, the minutes, the seconds, well, they didn't matter much to me anymore. The school year was halfway over now, and a year since we first ran away was approaching. Time was going by too fast almost, and yet, I was glad to see we were keeping afloat.

Nudge was doing great in school, despite all the complaining she did about teachers and other peers. She did a lot of volunteering to raise money for lots of causes, including drug prevention and local charities. Her talking kept Iggy on his toes too, but the way those two could strike up a conversation made me smile. For hours, Nudge could just sit and describe her entire day to Iggy, and he'd listen. Sometimes they'd sit outside, and she'd describe the sunset for him, or whatever he wanted to hear. Iggy always had his jokes though, and they were good for each other like that.

Gazzy, unfortunately, struggled with his grades. Fang and Nudge managed to pull some patience together to help him, although I had a feeling Fang was sitting there and just doing homework for Gazzy. He looked out for Angel though, and the two of them stuck together a lot. As strong as he wanted to be, there were nights I'd hear him crying, days he would come back from school, Angel being the only one to rouse him from letting things get him down. I tried my best to hold things together for all of them, but even now there were days that were still hard.

Angel, on the other hand, excelled at whatever she did. Once she found the motivation and determination, she'd get whatever she wanted to do done. Unlike Gazzy or Fang, and sometimes even Iggy, I didn't worry about her. In fact, a lot of the time I found her worrying about me. She'd always ask if I was okay, or how things were going. Sometimes I just wanted to give her a big hug.

As for Fang, well, he seemed to be having better days now, walking with only one crutch now. In fact, I thought he was pretty content with that. We kept ourselves busy with running errands for Mom during the day, helping Iggy with dinner, our late nights up talking about nothing and everything.

"You know, one day, when everyone can finally take care of themselves, we should get our own place." Fang said out of the blue one night. "Or maybe after we finally find some more direction to where we're going."

"Yeah, somewhere peaceful," I added.

He let out a laugh. "Yeah, definitely."

"You think Nudge and Iggy will stick together once she heads off to college? I mean, I know that's not for another two years now, but…"

"I think Iggy would chase her halfway across the world, even if it meant narrowly missing getting it by a few cars," Fang answered. "It's good to see he's found a new best friend."

I pulled Fang's arm around me, settling against him. "We've come a long way, huh?"

"Oh yeah, totally." He kissed me softly on the cheek. "Goodnight, Max."

I closed my eyes, smiling. "Goodnight, Fang."

* * *

**We're going to fastforward some more in the next chapter. I can't quite decide how I want to end this, which is why updates are taking a while to come. Originally I didn't really want to post it, seeing as it doesn't have much direction except to show the passing of time, but I figured hey, what the heck, I wrote it and there's no point in not posting it. Not like I'm being graded or anything, so figured I'd give you something to tide you over til the next update.**

**Anyway, stay tuned and thank you!**


	37. Chapter 37

**The Runaways – Chapter 37**

By MyNameIsCAL

**Okay, okay. Time to like push forward a lot, yeah? **

_Five Years Later_

-Fang's POV-

I probably feel older than I should. My leg has been causing me more trouble lately, but you know I'm quite used to it. It's sort of a been there, done that kinda attitude I've got towards it. Although sometimes I do feel like an old man, hobbling around with my crutch. Max always looks amused when I do, and well, I guess it's just easier to smile back at her.

Nudge is in her third year of college, majoring in fashion. She brought Iggy along with her, and they've got an apartment a five minute walk away from her campus all the way in California. They come visit often though.

As for Angel and Gazzy, they're both in high school. They're good kids, still the same little kids I met all those years ago, and yet they're a hell of a lot more mature than I remember. They're probably the ones that make me feel the oldest.

Max and I have this place by the beach. It's small, a one story little cottage almost, picked out so I didn't have to strain myself going up and down the stairs. We're getting married soon, by the way. In one week exactly. It's nothing big, just here on the beach, Mom and the gang invited. Oh, and Ella too. She's a veterinarian like Mom now.

Wow, I'm calling her Mom. A lot has changed, hasn't it?

"Let's go walk on the beach," I tell Max.

She raises an eyebrow. "I thought you said your leg's bothering you."

"So what?"

"Alright." She gives in, and I make a mental note not to complain later about the pain. Although the truth is that I need practice walking on the sand. Despite living on the beach, I rarely go walk on it. Watching the ocean from afar is fine by me.

I take her hand as we go through the doorway. She says nothing as I leave my crutch propped up against the fence.

We start towards the water, but halfway I'm already out of breath. We lie on the sand instead, and I pull her close.

"You're an idiot," she murmurs, kissing me on the cheek.

"But I'm your idiot." I kiss her back.

She smiles and we lay there for a while, eyes closed, taking in our surroundings.

My mind drifts away from the beach though. It's been a while since I've thought about the past. It was only just this morning that I had seen Josh's face on the news. He was busted for running a drug operation. It didn't surprise me. I hadn't talked to him since before I ran away with Max to help the others. Needless to say, he never felt I was a loss to whatever business he was dealing with.

"Fang?"

"Mmm?"

"Do you ever wonder what it'd be like if everything turned out differently?" Clearly she had been thinking about everything too.

"Sometimes," I answer and then sit up. "C'mon, we still haven't got to the water yet."

She ends up helping me stand, and we trudge through the rest of the sand, finally reaching the ocean. I dip my feet in.

* * *

-Max's POV-

Fang seems to have loosened up over the past couple of years. I remember when we first moved away to here. He had been ambivalent about leaving everyone, as much as he wanted to. There are days I still catch him with this look of sadness in his eyes, and then there are days like these where there seems like nothing in the world is wrong.

"We shouldn't walk too far, or you'll never make it back," I say, trying not to sound like Mom. She was always telling him this and that so he wouldn't get hurt. That's probably the thing that gets to him most, people telling him what he can't do.

"You know, if you hadn't helped me that night at the mall, I probably would have found myself alone. I've only been surrounded by my mom and her drugs for the whole beginning half of my life. To say I wouldn't have fallen into using them if things had turned out differently would be a lie." He takes my hand, looking out at the ocean. "It's the reason I'm afraid of taking the pain medication the doctor gives me. I'm afraid I'll turn out like my mom, or my dad."

"I wouldn't let you."

He gives me a small smile. "Yeah, I know."

* * *

**Okay, guess I'm writing the wedding now. Switching to present tense I guess for the last couple of chapters. So these next few chapters will sort of be like a huge epilogue? If that makes sense. Sorta like what's going on presently, heh.**

**Anyway, closure coming in the next few chapters. Like I've said before (probably), I'm a sucker for happy endings. **

**For the next chapter, I'll probably switch to either Iggy and Nudge's POVs or Gazzy and Angel's. **

**I'm probably only rambling like this because I'm tired, and that's what I tend to do when, well, I'm tired.**

**Thanks and stay tuned.**


	38. Chapter 38

**The Runaways – Chapter 38**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Iggy's POV-

Nudge hates leaving me alone, and honestly, I hate it too, but I've gotten used to our small apartment. It's got a kitchen, a bedroom, a closet, and a small sitting area where Nudge set up the TV and stereo system. We didn't want to use any of Dr. M's money, and even though the hot water occasionally didn't work, the kitchen was the reason we got this place.

I'm sitting on a second hand couch right now, jazz music playing, the walking bass and drums keeping the beat of my thoughts. Nudge is at a class right now, and then she's supposed to go food shopping. Then I'll cook dinner when she gets home.

She's really been to nice to me though, bringing me out to college with her. Between classes and other things she's involved in, Nudge always stops by to check up on me. I'm not really allowed to cook without her being around because she's afraid I might cut off my finger or start a fire, but I still do sometimes. Don't tell her that.

I can hear people walking in the hallway. Most of our neighbors are college students too. Nudge is friends with some of them. Often during the week we cook together or chip in to buy dinner since everyone's low on money these days. It's so hard to get a job that fits the hours you want. Nudge and I get by because she works at some clothing store doing alterations.

Well, it's not that we don't have money. We received plenty of compensation for what we went through, and well I had some money from my parents, but we're saving up to get a house. It was nice that Fang and Max skipped school altogether. They've got a nice house by the beach. Too often we're there because Nudge likes it so much too. I don't think they mind though.

Some three songs later, I hear the key in the door and rise off of the couch. The door opens and Nudge enters, putting her bags on the ground so I can pull her into a hug. She puts her arms around my neck and kisses me.

"How was your day?" I ask once we break apart.

"Same as usual. Went to class, did some stuff at work, went to my other class, and then picked up some groceries," she told me. "Was yours any more interesting?"

"Not in the slightest bit." I gave her a grin. "Woke up at noon, ate some leftover pizza, and listened to some music."

She runs her fingers through my hair. "Yeah, I can tell. I'm glad you don't go out by yourself."

"Why? Because I'd get killed?"

"No, because your hair is a mess and you've buttoned your shirt inside out _and_ you're off by two buttons."

"You're lucky I don't walk around naked."

She punches me in the arm. "I'm sure Maria across the hall would like that."

We fall onto the couch, Nudge resting on top of me, my hands resting on her back. "Well, you know I'm only out to please you."

Nudge laughs, ruffling my hair again. "Shush, you. Now c'mon, I'm hungry."

I kiss her, feeling her lips form a smile. "Alright, I guess I'll have to cook then."

* * *

-Nudge's POV-

Iggy turns his music up whenever we're cooking. But tonight's food had to be put into the oven, and he grabs me, putting his arms around me asking if I'd dance with him.

"We've got to be better than Max and Fang," he jokes.

"You know, I don't think Fang would appreciate you making fun of his limp."

He suppresses his laugh with a smirk.

"Seriously, Iggy."

"You think he doesn't make fun of me being blind?"

I frown. "No, he doesn't. You used to be very sensitive about it."

"Alright, you win, I guess." He takes my hand, lifting it, and I spin in a circle.

"You're lucky I love you too much to not slap you across the face," I tell him.

"Yes, I know, I'm _very_ lucky." He gives me one of his charming smiles. "I'm the luckiest in the world to have you."

I roll my eyes. "Sometimes I wish you weren't so damn charming."

He cranes his neck to kiss me. "I love you too, Nudge."

I can't help but kiss him back.

PAGE BREAK!

-Iggy's POV-

I'm at a café with Fang right now, but only because I want coffee. He's sitting across from me, sipping a carbonated drink. From its smell, I'm pretty sure it's a Coke. We're waiting for Nudge and Max to finish up with their dresses for the wedding.

"You sure you don't want me to walk _you_ down the aisle?" I snigger.

He grunts. "Maybe I oughta walk _you_ down the aisle."

I laugh, but he's not, and I remember my conversation with Nudge before dinner last night.

"I'm sorry," I finally say, sheepishly.

"I know you're only kidding." He sips his soda again and I can hear the fizz settle. "I haven't been the best to you all these years either."

"Are you kidding? You saved my freaking life! C'mon, man, now's not the time to harp on the past."

"You were my best friend and I treated you like crap all those years in school."

"I needed you as much as you needed me."

"I wanted to say sorry."

I almost laugh. "You're kidding, right? If I was really sensitive to that, I would have stopped letting you walk me home."

"I've just been thinking, alright?"

"Okay, Fang. But seriously, it's not a big deal. You should stop your worrying. Wait a sec. You're not having second thoughts about marrying Max, are you?"

"No, of course not!" He puts his soda down. "I've never been so sure about anything else in my life than marrying Max."

"Just making sure." I finish the rest of my coffee. "Because I'm your best man, and I'm still your best friend, so I gotta make sure you got your head on straight."

"Thanks, Ig."

I tell him it's no problem, and we carry on small talk about this and that. Dinner was at his house, but I'm cooking. After he finishes his drink, we get up and go across the street to the grocery store. By the time we finish, Max and Nudge are waiting for us outside.


End file.
